Annotated Bibliography # 1
Annotated Bibliography # 2
Annotated Bibliography #3
Norquist, Grover. "POLITICO
Magazine." POLITICO Magazine. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Nov. 2013.
This article was
one concerning the differences in ax approaches by Virginia and North
Carolina. In the article, Virginia was
portrayed as having a bad approach to tax reform. The approach was portrayed
negatively because taxes were raised. North Carolina was contrasted as having a
better approach to tax reform. This
reform was portrayed positively because income, corporate, and death taxes were
reduced or totally eliminated. The North
Carolina tax reforms were also backed by public opinion, while the Virginia
increase in taxes was relatively unpopular. I believe that the article is heavily biased
towards a conservative economic argument. I did not agree with many of its
premises, personally I feel liked raising taxes can be very beneficial to the
economy in the long run by balancing the budget. I found the overall analysis
to be very inaccurate with other works in this field.
A Tale of
Two Purple States
By GROVER G.
NORQUIST and PATRICK GLEASON November 24, 2013
Republican and
Democratic strategists are anxiously awaiting the final results of the
excruciatingly close Virginia attorney general’s race, where votes are still
being counted. Republicans are already dejected about losing the governor’s
mansion in Richmond, and giving up the AG spot would mean that every statewide
office in Virginia is now held by a Democrat for the first time in four
decades. But the GOP should take heart and learn an important lesson heading
into 2014 by comparing its failure in the Old Dominion to what has transpired
in neighboring North Carolina, another battleground state that, politically,
shares Virginia’s reddish-purple hue.
The Virginia
GOP’s problems are largely of its own making. Outgoing Virginia Gov. Bob
McDonnell tarnished the Republican brand in his state and destroyed the party’s
advantage on the tax issue earlier this year when he put his signature on a
bill that raised taxes by $5.9 billion. Terry McAuliffe, his successor, made
his support for McDonnell’s tax hike a key component of his message. Let’s just
say that if you are a Republican and Terry McAuliffe is running on your tax
plan, it’s a safe bet that it was probably a bad idea. Not only was McDonnell’s
tax package dumb politics—a Roanoke College poll
on the proposal found 49 percent opposed and only 33 percent supportive—it was
terrible policy to boot.
Republicans in
North Carolina went in the opposite direction, passing a historic tax reform
package that included the largest income tax rate reduction in the country in
2013. The legislation dropped the top personal income tax rate by 25 percent,
taking it from 7.75 percent, previously the highest rate in the Southeast, to
5.75 percent and flattening what had been a progressive income tax system. The
Tar Heel State’s tax reform also reduced the corporate tax rate from 6.9
percent to 5 percent (eventually down to 3 percent, if revenue targets are met)
and eliminated North Carolina’s death tax, making Pinehurst and the Outer Banks
even more attractive to retirees from around the country.
According to a
poll
released by Americans for Prosperity earlier this month, 60 percent of North
Carolina voters approve of the corporate tax rate reduction, and 70 percent
approve of the lowering and flattening of the state personal income tax. It
appears that the North Carolina tax reform package wasn’t just excellent
policy, it was good politics—a reverse McDonnell, if you will. So not only is
North Carolina’s BBQ superior to Virginia’s, so are its Republican politicians.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2013/11/a-tale-of-two-purple-states-100311.html#ixzz2ldCQj7Is
“Meanwhile,
back in the Commonwealth, when McDonnell wasn’t raising taxes, he was grabbing
headlines for vaginal wand mandates and receiving perhaps legal, but shady
gifts from financial backers.
In 2010,
Republicans took over the North Carolina Legislature for the first time in more
than a century. Since then, the New York Times editorial board and
other left-wing critics have tried to paint them as a bunch of troglodytes
turning the state into a backwater. Despite sneers from Manhattan, it is clear
that North Carolina voters are satisfied with how Republicans have turned the state
around after more than a decade of high tax-and-spend policies under Democrats.
After spending
their first two years in power blocking Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue from
imposing a second round of tax hikes in addition to the $3 billion in higher
taxes she signed into law shortly after taking office in 2009, North Carolina
voters issued a vote of confidence in Republicans by increasing their
legislative majorities in 2012, a year in which President Barack Obama was on
the ballot, the Democratic National Convention was held in Charlotte and the
party’s turnout machine was in full force. Amid a bad year for the GOP
nationally, Republicans in North Carolina walked away from 2012 with control of
the governorship and supermajorities in both chambers of the state legislature.
If North
Carolina Speaker Thom Tillis, now a candidate for U.S. Senate, wins the
Republican nomination to run against Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) next year, it will
make for quite the contrast. His signature legislative achievement, the
aforementioned tax reform, is very popular among North Carolina voters, while
Hagan’s most prominent Senate vote, the one she cast for Obamacare, is
extremely unpopular back home.
Republicans
trying to learn lessons from the 2013 elections and past mistakes would be wise
to take a long look at the difference in how Republicans have behaved in
Virginia and North Carolina in recent years, then examine the contrast in the
electoral outcomes that followed.”
Grover
Norquist is president of Americans for Tax Reform. Patrick Gleason is ATR’s
director of state affairs.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2013/11/a-tale-of-two-purple-states-100311.html#ixzz2ld7Q52gw
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