Huckabee Lies about Tax Hikes

Republican Mike Huckabee, who is running for President in 2008, has a bad record on taxes. Detractors claim that the former Governor of Arkansas may have increased more taxes during his ten-year tenure than Bill Clinton did earlier, when he held the office for twelve years. In fact, for sometime now, the Club for Growth has been running an advertisement campaign to raise awareness among the voters regarding Huckabee's tax record.

The Democrat-Gazette wrote that the tax burden of the average Arkansan grew from $1,969 in 1997, to $2,902 in 2005. The Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration has confirmed a net tax increase of $505 million to adjust for inflation and economic growth, a result of legislation passed by Huckabee while he was Governor of Arkansas. This includes a hike in sales tax, as well as taxes on education, gas, nursing home beds, tourist entry to theme parks, cigarette papers, cigarettes, mixed drinks, snuff and other products and services.

Huckabee likes to shrug off tax hike allegations by insisting that he, in fact, cut taxes ninety times. However, as an article in the Democrat-Gazette mentions, these were mainly smaller reductions that did not amount to any overall significant cut on taxes. In this scenario, it is wondered how long Huckabee will be able to continue to pull the wool over voters' eyes. Americans are not likely to go on swallowing his lies.

The anti-tax Club for Growth has put up an anti-Huckabee video on Youtube.