"Once Higher Taxes are on the Table, Everything Else Comes Off"

Eight states have proven it's possible to balance big deficit budgets without raising taxes. Unfortunately for the country, the Obama Administration ignores these states as it pursues a spend-and-tax-everyone plan.

Seven of these states are led by conservatives: Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Indiana, Maine, Texas and Florida. All it took, writes Frank Donatelli, was a willingness "to make tough choices and tell the truth to voters." The 8th state is New York, led by liberal Governor Andrew Cuomo:

He pressed the legislature to close NY's budget gap without new taxes, and he succeeded. Good for him. One wonders how much pressure he felt to remain economically competitive with the neighboring states of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, both of which pursued a similar strategy.

Donatelli contrasts New York with two other liberal states - Illinois and Connecticut:

Both states raised taxes substantially on everyone, not just the rich, and did little to reform state programs that continue to grow out of control.

The lesson is clear: Once higher taxes are on the table, everything else comes off.

Raising taxes seems to be the Obama Administration's sole focus as the debt ceiling deadline approaches. And not just higher taxes on "the rich', according to the Associated Press:

Proposals under consideration include raising taxes on small business owners and potentially low- and middle-income families. You won't hear about that from Obama. Instead the president focuses on the very rich, and speaks euphemistically.

Not just small tax hikes, either, says the Wall Street Journal:

The fondest Washington hopes for a grand debt-limit deal have broken down over taxes. House Speaker John Boehner said late Saturday that he couldn't move ahead with a $4 trillion deal because President Obama was insisting on a $1 trillion tax increase…

No one wants to reform the tax code more than we do, but passing a $1 trillion tax increase first on the promise of tax reform later is a political trap.

We think this was the President's spend-and-tax plan from the very first. Run up spending and debt in the name of stimulus and health-care reform, then count on Wall Street bond holders and the political establishment to browbeat Republicans into paying for it all.

With budget negotiations stalled over the tax issue again last night, it looks like Mr. Obama is determined to prove Mr. Donatelli and the Wall Street Journal right.