INDIANAPOLIS —
The intra-party fight over Republican Gov. Mike Pence’s controversial tax cut proposal is escalating.
At a press conference at the Statehouse Thursday, a conservative tea-party organization founded by the billionaire Koch brothers announced it was pouring money into a statewide campaign to pressure Republican lawmakers into giving Pence what he wants: a 10 percent cut in the state income tax rate.
Chase Downham, state director for Americans for Prosperity, said his organization will spend a “six-figure” amount on TV, radio and online ad buys in an attempt to get voters to turn up the heat on GOP legislators who’ve rejected the Pence plan.
“We believe this tax cut is absolutely critical,” Downham said.
The organization, founded and funded by Charles and David Koch, has spent millions of dollars trying to defeat Democrat candidates; it will now be spending its money going after the Republicans who control the Indiana General Assembly.
Republican House Speaker Brian Bosma defended the House budget bill that rejects Pence’s proposed cut, which would cost the state about $500 million in revenues each year. The House plan, crafted by GOP legislators, instead spends that money on schools and road repairs.
Bosma, who’s been an ally of Americans for Prosperity in the past, said he wouldn’t be pressured into backing off what he sees as critical investments for the state’s long-term economic health.
“You’re looking at a guy who’s had death threats, people camped on my front door…” Bosma said, referring to a past fight over the contentious “right to work” bill passed last year. “So my focus will be on making the right decisions for the State of Indiana.”
Bosma said he and Senate leaders are still open to considering the tax cut if the state’s revenue forecast, due in April, projects significantly more revenues. But he also took a veiled dig at Pence, who made the tax cut his signature campaign promise last year without consulting Republican legislative leaders.
“We’ve said many times here, our goal is to do the right thing for the citizens of the state,” Bosma said. “It’s easy to bang a ‘Hey, let’s cut taxes’ drum. But you’ve got to be sure it’s a smart cut, it’s sustainable in the long run, not (just) in an election cycle. That’s our goal.”
The announcement by the Americans for Prosperity came as the Senate appropriations committee started hearings on the House budget bill. Senate leaders, like their GOP counterparts in the House, have expressed little support for the Pence tax cut.
Pence has taken a similar approach as the AFP. Since failing to lock down the legislative support he needs for the tax cut, he’s taken his pitch on the road to urge voters to pressure their legislators to support his plan.
In a speech to the Vigo County Chamber of Commerce Thursday, Pence stuck tightly to an oft-repeated script that paints the tax cut as a job creator and economic development tool. Pence argued the state, which has a $2 billion surplus, can afford the tax cut.
“First and foremost, I don’t think government should ever collect more money than it needs to operate,” Pence said. “And when it is set to collect more than it needs, it ought to find ways to permanently reduce the tax burden.”
The tug-of-war between Pence and GOP legislative leaders has been escalating in recent weeks. As Pence has tried to work around them, they’ve pushed back.
Bosma recently sent a letter to GOP county chairmen, saying neither he nor Senate President David Long are convinced the tax cut is sustainable. In it, Bosma describes the property and income tax cuts enacted after Indiana built a $2 billion surplus in 1998 led to a $1.3 billion deficit six years later, resulting in “painful and difficult” budget cuts.
Maureen Hayden covers the Statehouse for the CNHI newspapers in Indiana. She can be reached at maureen.hayden@indianamediagroup.com.
CNHI Special Projects
Related Photos
-
Indiana governor Mike Pence is greeted by Terre Haute Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Ken Brengle at the Idle Creek Banquet Center Thursday afternoon. Jim Avelis
Tea party group to launch campaign to support Pence tax cut
- CNHI Special Projects
-
-
Twitter introduces website security tool after AP account hacked
Twitter is adding a new security tool to its website, making it harder for outsiders to gain access to accounts, a month after a false posting triggered a stock-market decline.
-
Siblings withstand storm in fridge
Brother and sister co-owners of a Chinese takeout restaurant huddled inside a refrigerator to survive Monday’s deadly tornado that claimed 24 lives.
-
Mom delivered baby as tornado struck
Shayla Taylor was so far along in labor that her nurses at Moore Medical Center decided not to move her when Monday's tornado hit. They waited out the storm in an operating room, where the wall disappeared as the tornado hit the building.
-
TIMELAPSE: Take a tour through the damage in Moore
Take a driving tour of the damage in Moore caused by Monday's tornado.
-
Mayor wants tornado shelters in new homes
Moore Mayor Glenn Lewis wants tornado shelters in all new homes in his city, where an EF-5 tornado damaged or destroyed more than 12,500 homes Monday afternoon. A proposed ordinance would require a shelter inside or outside each new residence.
-
AUDIO: Residents share their tornado experiences
Moore, Okla., residents talk about living through Monday's EF-5 tornado.
-
Report: State is both ‘leader and laggard’
A newly released report card on where Indiana ranks nationally in key economic measures shows the state is both “a leader and a laggard” in areas that signal potential for more prosperity.
-
Audio: How can we better prepare for tornadoes?
An NPR broadcast examines the question of how communities can better prepare for tornadoes like the one that struck Moore, Okla. on Monday. The broadcast features commentary from Michael Fitzgerald, who reported a five-part disaster series for the CNHI News Service.
-
Photos: Aftermath of massive tornado in Moore
Storm victims were pulled from the rubble and residents began surveying the damage late Monday and early Tuesday in the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore, where a powerful tornado destroyed entire neighborhoods and left dozens dead.
-
Okla. front pages capture tornado aftermath
View how several Oklahoma newspapers covered Monday's massive tornado in Moore. Please note that officials revised the death toll downward early Tuesday morning after some papers were printed, but it is expected to climb again as recovery efforts continue.
- More CNHI Special Projects Headlines
-
