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Vermont
Howard Dean, Democrat
Legislature: Democratic
Took Office: 8/91
Grade: C
Howard Dean was lieutenant governor in August 1991 when
Republican governor Richard Snelling died suddenly of a
heart attack. Dean was elected to a full term in 1992 and
reelected in 1994 and 1996. (Vermont is one of only two
states with two-year gubernatorial terms.) Dean has been
described by The Almanac of American Politics as "one of the
four or five most liberal governors in the nation." He has
pushed a higher minimum wage, land development restrictions,
family leave legislation, and taxpayer financing of cam-
paigns. A physician, in 1993 he pushed for a Clinton-style
health care plan, which was rejected by the legislature.
Since then he has expanded state-subsidized medicine incre-
mentally. However, Dean cannot be pigeonholed as a down-
the-line tax-and-spend liberal. He has supported such free-
market causes as electricity deregulation, a school choice
program for high school students, and restraints on state
spending. While he often is given credit for reducing the
income tax, the reality is different. Vermont's personal
income tax is levied as a percentage of federal liability.
Dean did allow a temporary increase to expire, dropping the
top rate from 34 percent to 25 percent, and he later pro-
posed lowering the rate to 24 percent. However, since the
top federal rate has been raised from 31 percent to 39.6
percent, Vermonters still face a much higher effective top
tax rate today than they did before Dean was governor. Dean
has successfully pushed a 1.5 percentage point increase in
corporate income tax rates, a 5-cent per gallon gas tax
hike, and a 24-cent per pack cigarette tax hike. He also
made a temporary 1-cent sales tax hike permanent. Dean's
court-ordered school funding equalization plan has proven
extraordinarily unpopular in wealthy towns because their
property taxes now go to the state rather than their own lo-
cal schools. Dean's record of fiscal restraint has been
fairly mixed. In the past two years his tax-and-spend lib-
eral instincts have won out over his fiscally conservative
side.
Score
Grade
Rank
Overall Fiscal Policy Score
44
C
32
Spending Score
61
B
15
Revenue and Tax Rate Score
37
D
42
Amount
0.1%
Average Annual Change in Real Per Capita Direct General Spending through 1996
-1.6%
Average Annual Change in Direct General Spending Per $1,000 Personal Income through 1996
-0.7%
Average Annual Recommended Change in Real Per Capita General Fund Spending through 1999
-1.1%
Average Annual Change in General Fund Spending Per $1,000 Personal Income 1996-98
-0.1%
Average Annual Change in Real Per Capita Tax Revenue through 1997
-1.9%
Average Annual Change in Tax Revenue Per $1,000 Personal Income through 1997
-3.5%
Average Annual Recommended Change in General Fund Revenue Per $1,000 Personal Income through 1999
-0.7%
Average Annual Change in Real Per Capita General Fund Revenue 1996-98
2.1%
Average Annual Recommended Tax Changes as % of Prior Year's Spending through 1999
1.754
Change in Top Personal Income Tax Rate, proposed and/or enacted (% points)
1.5
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)
1.0
Change in Sales Tax Rate, proposed and/or enacted (% points)
8.0
Change in Gas Tax Rate, proposed and/or enacted (cents per gallon) (*0.5)