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Massachusetts

Mitt Romney, Republican

Legislature: Democratic

Final Overall Grade: C

increase in various fees. He later proposed

As Mitt Romney launches his bid for the

$140 in business tax hikes through the closing

Republican presidential nomination, his fiscal

of "loopholes" in the tax code. He announced

record as governor should be scrutinized.

in May 2004 that he wanted to cut the top

Romney likes to advance the image of himself

income tax rate from 5.3 to 5 percent, but that

as a governor who has fought a liberal

was hardly an audacious stand. Voters had

Democratic legislature on various fronts.

already passed a plan to do just that before

That's mostly true on spending: he proposed

Romney even took office. In his budget for

modest increases to the budget and line-item

2006, he proposed $170 million more in busi-

vetoed millions of dollars each year only to

ness tax hikes, almost completely neutralizing

have most of those vetoes overridden. But

the proposed income tax cut. If you consider

Romney will likely also be eager to push the

the massive costs to taxpayers that his univer-

message that he was a governor who stood by

sal health care plan will inflict once he's left

a no-new-taxes pledge. That's mostly a myth.

office, Romney's tenure is clearly not a tri-

His first budget included no general tax

umph of small-government activism.

increases but did include a $500 million

Michigan

Jennifer Granholm, Democrat

Legislature: Republican

First-Term Grade: C

centerpiece of the plan was keeping the reviled

Jennifer Granholm has spent most of her

and economy-sapping Single Business Tax, a

first term proving she doesn't know how to

tax that was scheduled to disappear over time,

rescue Michigan from its economic doldrums.

while creating a series of credits and complexi-

She initially started by cutting government

ties designed to shift the tax burden to specif-

spending mainly out of the need to balance

ic industries. Granholm's industrial-planning

the budget, but she quickly started proposing

streak continued with a $2 billion bond initia-

tax hikes. She proposed increasing corporate

tive to create a government-run economic

taxes by ending certain corporate income tax

development fund (read: corporate welfare

deductions. By November 2003 she had pro-

program). Overall, Granholm has yet to realize

posed stopping a scheduled income tax cut. In

that what really ails Michigan is high taxes and

2004 Granholm proposed a $391 million tax

too much industrial planning by the govern-

hike, which raised the cigarette tax from $1.25

ment. Her first term contained far too much

per pack to $2.00. Granholm then embarked

of both.

on a quest to reform the state tax code. The

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