Congressman Ralph Abraham pledges that if he is elected Governor any new tax increases passed in the Legislature will be offset with equal or greater tax reductions in other areas.
The candidate made the pledge this morning on KEEL after being asked if he would pledge to reject new taxes on any front. Abraham says his approach would begin a process of overall tax reductions.
“We have one of the highest corporate taxes in the south, we know personal income tax is too high, we know franchise tax needs to go away, we need to phase out inventory tax, I mean the list goes on and on.”
Abraham previously mentioned he would support Legislative efforts to repeal a .45 percent sales tax passed in the 2018 session.
Ultimately the Governor only has the power to veto tax proposals, but Abraham says he expects to be cooperating towards a shared vision with a more fiscally conservative Legislature in 2020.
“We are going to have, I hope, what is called a supermajority of fiscal conservatives after these November elections, and with me as Governor we move mountains very quickly.”
One avenue for accomplishing his goal of only allowing offsetting taxes to be passed is rewriting Article Seven of the constitution, which controls tax law.
“We get in a room and we may have to rewrite one article, but we don’t have to open up the constitution to do that, you just fix it.”
If the rewrite clears the Legislature, it would be up for a ballot box vote.
