Green and Bush - Tax Cut and Run

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Mark Green’s campaign for governor has many eerie similarities to that of the textbook election promises that has sprung George W. Bush into the presidency. Like Bush, Green promises to cut taxes and fix the morals and values of others.

Green has proposed a pension tax break for seniors that would exempt the first $20,000 in a retiree’s income from state taxes. Sounds good when you’re kissing babies and willing to say anything to get a vote, but a similar plan that failed in the Republican-led legislature would have exempted only half of what Green proposes and would have cost the state nearly $200 million annually. Green claims his tax cut would cost only $20 million in its first year, but after that, details are fuzzy because he knows the promise is hollow. How he would make up for nearly $200 million in lost revenue is anybodies guess, chances are he would raise taxes elsewhere or cut jobs and desperately needed services.

My guess is Doyle will be seriously looking into property tax discounts for seniors if he is re-elected, a cost effective way to reward seniors according to the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute.

Like Bush, Mark Green plans to fix everything with a tax cut or a tax credit. Even with immigration, Green proposes to offer a $300 tax credit in his ad, while stating in order to qualify for assistance, you must prove citizenship. Huh? Nevermind, the fact is Green is out of touch with Wisconsinites. The one thing Green seems to forget is that the job he is running for is unlike anything he has done in Congress. State budgets have to be balanced, the debt cannot be sold off to the highest bidder or left to accumulate for future generations.

In a strange twist, rumor has it that former Governor Tommy (I run, I win) Thompson may throw his hat in the 2008 presidential race. After getting a whiff of D.C. graft, Thompson is taking the opposite road from Green’s. One has to remember that Tommy Thompson had almost single-handed wrecked Wisconsin and nearly turned the state into the Texas of the north. That Bush nearly destroyed the state he governed before running for president had to give Thompson some consolation that he too can make it to the White House. Wisconsin’s reputation of high taxes, low wages, ruined natural resources and stagnant growth bloomed in the 90's and were actually his "signature" achievements. The fact is, Doyle is still repairing the long-term damage done by Tommy.

So who could blame Thompson for cutting and running from Wisconsin? He knows you can’t please everyone balancing state budgets, plus it requires a brain and work. After pretending to work under George W. Bush for four long miserable years, ol’ slowpoke Thompson figures he could possibly do no worse and – he’s probably right. Cabinet meetings with Bush have been described as a blind man leading a room full of deaf people, and in no disrespect to people with disabilities, Thompson was clearly one of the “deaf.”