Dean Gave VT High Taxes, Yet Media Tag Him "Fiscal Conservative"

"The Washington Times reports that Dean's budget balancing in Vermont, much-cited by the news media, left the state with quote, 'one of the highest per capita tax burdens in the country,' end quote," FNC's Brit Hume informed his viewers on Thursday night.

Indeed, the misnomer is repeated incessantly by journalists at major outlets. Two examples from over the weekend:

-- On Inside Washington, Newsweek's Martha Brant asserted of Howard Dean: "He's also a fiscal conservative. And economically he's not as much of a wild-eyed liberal as people think he is."

-- Sunday morning on CBS's Face the Nation, USA Today reporter Jill Lawrence insisted: "He is a kind of a complicated mix of liberal and moderate positions. He's a fiscal conservative and he was in Vermont."

Last Wednesday in an online chat session, Newsweek's Jonathan Alter, the MRC's Tim Graham noticed, proclaimed: "When the word gets out that Dean isn't liberal -- and in fact is quite conservative -- on fiscal issues, he'll pick up more McCain support." Alter asserted in answer to another question: "On fiscal issues, he's far to the right of [Ted] Kennedy."

(Alter also made clear his agreement with Dean's disdain for the Bush tax cuts: "He would repeal the Bush tax cuts which are heavily weighted toward the wealthy. That would bring us back to where the tax system was under Clinton. It hardly sapped innovation then -- and wouldn't in the future. The tax cut, to my mind, was a huge mistake economically. Whether it was a mistake politically depends on how the economy does between now and the election.")

Some other recent examples of reporters calling Dean a "fiscal conservative," and then an excerpt from the Washington Times story cited by Hume:

-- New York Times reporter Jodi Wilgoren and David Rosenbaum in a July 30 profile of Dean: "He remains a fiscal conservative."

-- "As Governor, Dean Was Fiscal Conservative," declared the front page headline over an August 3 Washington Post story by Michael Powell.

-- "He is a rock-ribbed budget hawk," John Cloud charged in the August 11 edition of Time magazine.

An MRC Media Reality Check last week by Tim Graham collated these quotes from the August 11 Newsweek and U.S. News:

-- Newsweek's Jonathan Alter insisted that in Vermont "Dean focused on fiscal responsibility."

-- In U.S. News & World Report, Roger Simon located those who "find Dean's style invigorating," including self-declared Republican Joe Mathews, who said he'll vote Dean "because he admires the fiscal conservatism Dean displayed in 11 years as Governor. 'What the rest of the country is starting to find out,' he says, 'is Dean is not particularly left wing. And as far as checkbook issues, he is to the right of George Bush, because if it isn't in the bank, Dean doesn't spend it.'"

This represents a bizarre definition of "fiscal conservatism" -- hike spending all you want to increase government meddling in people's lives, but if the budget is balanced, then you are a "fiscal conservative."

An August 7 Washington Times story by Donald Lambro, "Dean's budget-balancing act left taxpayers in red," undermined the media's clams about how Dean is any kind of a conservative on spending and taxes. An excerpt:

Vermont had one of the highest per capita tax burdens in the country when Howard Dean left the governorship in January to run for president.

Mr. Dean, a Democrat who calls himself a "fiscal conservative," says he balanced all his state budgets by cutting spending. And allies and critics alike praise his budget-balancing record.

Vermont enjoyed a budget surplus this year while most states were in the red because of the recession that began three years ago.

What the former governor doesn't say is that he raised hundreds of millions of dollars in higher taxes, including sales taxes, cigarette taxes, property taxes and corporate taxes, to balance the books while paying for his social welfare proposals.

After 11 years under Mr. Dean's governorship, Vermont now ranks in the top tier of high-tax states, a fiscal legacy that President Bush's campaign strategists say they intend to highlight should Mr. Dean become the Democratic presidential nominee next year.

Congressional Quarterly's Governing magazine, based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau, ranks Vermont second highest among the 50 states in the amount of tax revenue collected as a percentage of personal income in 2001 — about 9 percent to 10 percent.

In a separate ranking that measured state tax revenue per capita in 2001, Vermont was in second place with six other high-tax states, including Massachusetts and California.

Another ranking in June by the Government Finance Officers Association put Vermont in 12th place when state and local tax burdens are combined, well ahead of more populous industrial states such as New Jersey, Michigan and Illinois.

Vermont's budget has climbed sharply, too, from $662 million in 1991 to $1.8 billion last year. Between 1997 and last year, inflation and population growth combined totaled 18.1 percent, but spending rose 51.7 percent.

Once known for its Yankee thrift, the state has become a mecca for affluent liberals from neighboring New York. Vermont's sole congressman, independent Rep. Bernard Sanders, is an avowed socialist....

That story didn't sit too well with CNN's Aaron Brown, the MRC's Ken Shepherd noticed. Previewing next day newspaper headlines, on the August 6 NewsNight, Brown held up a color fax of the Washington Times and complained: "Down at the bottom here, I found this interesting. Maybe the paper's leading with its politics a bit. 'Dean's Budget-balancing Act Left Taxpayers in the Red, Bush Campaign Braces to Slam Record.' I'm not sure that that's necessarily a great issue for the Bush campaign, but perhaps it is. Anyway, Governor Dean raised some taxes, but he had no deficit. I guess it depends on what you want."

Anyway, Governor Dean raised some taxes, but he had no deficit. I guess it depends on what you want."

I know what I want and that's to leave Vermont (which I'm doing)

Dean left us a legacy of a never ending tax increase.

Due to a ruling by Vermont's Supreme Court several years ago, we know have a state funded (ha!) education tax which increases each year by default, with no end in sight.

Property taxes fund schools in Vermont. It used to be that each town raised what it needed to fund its own school budget and that was that.

Now, the state sets a statewide property tax, collects it, and send the schools back a fixed amount per student. If a town wants to spend more, it must raise that again locally.

Here's the kicker: The state mandates that towns have a 'common level of appraisal'. What this means is that if your town assessment of real estate values drops too low, they penalize you and also force a re-appraisal.

As property values go up, this raises more tax money each year without a vote of the legislature. Property values DO go UP, and the state is raising more money than it needs to fund the schools. Sooooo, this extra money is now targeted for the general fund spending of the state.

It used to be that when towns collected just what they needed for schools, a re-appraisal would raise everyone's property values, but the town's need for funding would be divided into that number and the resulting tax rate would drop, and possibly your property tax.

No more!

Thanks Dean, let's hope the country learns about what you did for us before it's too late.

Funny, how Aaron Brown called it "Raising some taxes" instead of TRIPLING GOVERNMENT SPENDING....(Vermont's budget has climbed sharply, too, from $662 million in 1991 to $1.8 billion last year.)

....on the August 6 NewsNight, Brown held up a color fax of the Washington Times and complained: "Down at the bottom here, I found this interesting. Maybe the paper's leading with its politics a bit. 'Dean's Budget-balancing Act Left Taxpayers in the Red, Bush Campaign Braces to Slam Record.' I'm not sure that that's necessarily a great issue for the Bush campaign, but perhaps it is

Who is leading with their Politics Aaron?

I know what I want and that's to leave Vermont (which I'm doing)

Good for you! Now try to get my brother to go too. He used to pay what he called a "panoramic view tax", when he had a house at the top of a ridgeline overlooking a lake.

He has since sold that place because he couldn't afford to live in it, but he stubbornly stays in Vermont and complains that the taxes are killing him.

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