Not for the first time, Fred Thomas
is about to make my head explode.
In a YPR interview with
Chuck Johnson yesterday, Thomas* suggested that in order to wind up the current legislative session, he (and his caucus, one presumes) need to strike a deal with Governor
Steve Bullock. The way it’s supposed to work, the Republicans will throw their
support behind an infrastructure bonding bill - which Bullock really wants - if the Governor will back a bunch of selective
tax cuts – which the Republicans really want. Of course it’s not just
Republican legislators who like these tax cuts. The beneficiaries –
international corporations who shield their Montana profits from taxation, high
income venture capitalists, telecommunications companies, high rollers who promise
to build data centers, companies that are required
(oh, the outrage of it!) to install pollution control equipment – also think they
are pretty peachy.
What I don’t get is how Thomas
can keep a straight face when he proposes a deal like this and then claim, in
the same breath, to be fiscally responsible. What we’re gonna do, apparently,
is swallow hard and borrow a bunch of money, and then take a big bite out of the
future revenue stream we need to pay the money back! How does that compute? And
if we are going to be building infrastructure with the money we borrow, why in
God’s green earth shouldn’t all these folks agitating for tax breaks help pay
for it?
Thomas, bred-in-the-bone supply-sider
that he is, will no doubt tell you that these tax cuts will more than pay for
themselves! That's because if we offer a tidy "incentive" to these footloose outfits, they swear they'll come to Montana. And if we don't, they’ll go
somewhere else. The way Thomas puts it, we need to make Montana “competitive”
so they’ll set up shop here. And we know that because they tell us so, over and
over again.
When, if ever, will we learn that
these guys dangle the same bag of gold in front of the noses of every state
legislature in the country? When, if ever, will we learn than when the race to
the bottom is finished, we’ll end up with a tax system with more holes in it
than a block of Swiss cheese, and nothing to show for it?
When, if ever, will we learn that
if these guys do end up in Montana, they’ll be demanding not just
infrastructure, but police and fire protection and an educated work force and
freedom from environmental regulation and subsidized air fares and even more tax cuts?
When, if ever, will we realize that
we are dealing with people that are telling us, in so many words, that they
are willing to do business in Montana only if they don’t have to pay the same
taxes the rest of us poor schmucks do?
When, if ever, will we realize
that good tax policy means defending the interests of all the people and
businesses that are already here and committed to Montana, who get up every
day, send their kids to school, go to work and pay their taxes without
complaint and without looking for a handout?
* For those of you not familiar
with Treasure State politics, Thomas is the Republican majority leader in the
Montana Senate.
