Howard Dean the tax machine

Donald Lambro of the Washington Times blows the whistle on Howard Dean, the self-styled “fiscal conservative.” Having examined Dean’s 11 year record as governor of Vermont, Lambro concludes that Dean is actually a tax and spend liberal. When Dean left office, Vermont was the third-highest of the 50 states in the amount of tax revenue collected as a percentage of personal income. And between 1997 and 2002, population growth and inflation combined rose by 18.1 percent, while spending went up by 51.7 percent.
Lambro concludes on an optimistic note: “Mr. Dean is riding high right now, surging ahead of Missouri Rep. Richard Gephardt in Iowa and tied with Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry in New Hampshire. But many Democrats think he is unelectable because of his opposition to the anti-terrorism war in Iraq and his weak posture on national security issues. If that alone is not enough to undercut his presidential ambitions, surely his role in making Vermont one of the heaviest taxed states in the country will finish him off.