<<  <  >  >>

Page 65

Rhode Island

Lincoln Almond, Republican

Legislature: Democratic

Took Office: 1/95

Grade: C

Rhode Island is a brutally tough state for anyone who

even glances in a fiscally conservative, market-oriented di-

rection, which explains Lincoln Almond's rancorous first

term.  With the Democrats controlling 80 percent of the leg-

islative seats, the most powerful figure in state politics

is probably not Governor Almond but the longtime house ma-

jority leader, Democrat George Caruolo.  The years and lay-

ers of anti-business policies have had the expected result:

virtually every independent financial and business climate

index ranks Rhode Island in the bottom five states.  Rhode

Island is one of only three states--North Dakota and West

Virginia are the others--to actually lose population over

the past 10 years.  Almond took office during an era of

banking and real estate crisis in Rhode Island.  His prede-

cessor, Bruce Sundlun, had passed massive tax hikes to try

to balance the budget.  Almond's most noteworthy accomplish-

ment has been to enact a series of tax reductions.  In his

first budget Almond approved a tax cut on financial serv-

ices, thus luring Fidelity and 1,200 new jobs into the state

from Massachusetts.  Last year he signed into law a 10 per-

cent income tax rate cut and a research and development tax

credit.  In 1998 he managed to get the legislature to enact

a phaseout of the car tax and the business inventory tax.

He also pushed property tax relief, but the state senate

killed the plan.  In 1996 Almond shocked the political es-

tablishment by vetoing an out-of-balance state budget, but

the legislature defiantly overrode the veto.  Since then,

Almond has generally deferred to the legislature's spending

demands, as evidenced by last year's 8 percent spending in-

crease.  In some areas, such as his Starting Right child

care program, Almond has even outspent the legislators.  On

balance, Almond has improved the economic climate in Rhode

Island, but it remains a terribly inhospitable state for

business and workers.

Score

Grade

Rank

Overall Fiscal Policy Score

47

C

25

Spending Score

53

B

20

Revenue and Tax Rate Score

45

C

33

Amount

1.6%

Average Annual Change in Real Per Capita Direct General Spending through 1996

-1.1%

Average Annual Change in Direct General Spending Per $1,000 Personal Income through 1996

-1.1%

Average Annual Recommended Change in Real Per Capita General Fund Spending through 1999

0.0%

Average Annual Change in General Fund Spending Per $1,000 Personal Income 1996-98

2.5%

Average Annual Change in Real Per Capita Tax Revenue through 1997

0.6%

Average Annual Change in Tax Revenue Per $1,000 Personal Income through 1997

-3.0%

Average Annual Recommended Change in General Fund Revenue Per $1,000 Personal Income through 1999

1.7%

Average Annual Change in Real Per Capita General Fund Revenue 1996-98

0.9%

Average Annual Recommended Tax Changes as % of Prior Year's Spending through 1999

-0.396

Change in Top Personal Income Tax Rate, proposed and/or enacted (% points)

0.0

Change in Top Corporate Income Tax Rate, proposed and/or enacted (% points)

19.7

1998 Combined Top Income Tax Rates (Personal plus Corporate) (*0.5)

-0.5

Change in Sales Tax Rate, proposed and/or enacted (% points)

0.0

Change in Gas Tax Rate, proposed and/or enacted (cents per gallon) (*0.5)