EDITORIAL: Pence should give up on income tax cut idea

Twice last week key groups gave Pence’s tax cut a chilly reception, and that included Marion County Republicans who you would have thought might be behind the governor, particularly after a conservative political action group aired negative ads directed toward Republicans.

Last Tuesday, Indiana’s local leaders showed little enthusiasm for Pence’s tax cut during their annual Statehouse rally, holding back applause as the governor spoke while they sought more money for roads. The governor received applause from members of the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns when he spoke about economic development and technology training, but not for the proposed tax cuts.

The Associated Press reported about half of the 600 attendees of the Marion County Reagan Dinner applauded when Pence talked about the tax rate cut on Wednesday.

Pence has stretched his campaign for the tax cut from last year through this year’s session, his first as governor. He has taken his message on the road, to Republican events across the state. But he has had little success, so far, winning support from Republican leaders in the General Assembly.

Local leaders have emerged as the staunchest opponents of the tax cut, saying the money would be better spent on much-needed road repairs.

During the campaign last year, Pence said he wanted to improve on the successes of the Gov. Mitch Daniels administration. Perhaps Pence would be best served by studying a few pages from Daniels’ playbook. When Daniels saw that one of his ideas might face a tough road, even with members of his own Republican Party, he backed away or made changes to his proposals.

Daniels was hugely successful at advancing his positions. Compare Daniels’ first year in office to this first session being experienced by Pence. Daniels was able to get through the Legislature a measure putting Indiana on daylight saving time for the first time since the energy embargo days of the 1970s when Washington mandated it. The following year, Daniels was able to pass legislation that would lease the Indiana Toll Road to a private firm for 75 years in return for $3.85 billion. Both measures remain controversial today.

Now, we have a Republican governor who can’t get a tax cut through a Legislature that has GOP super majorities in both the House and Senate?

Indiana cut on the expense side about as much as humanly possible during the Daniels administration, particularly during the recession. The effort resulted in government surpluses — and a tax refund to Hoosiers — yet at a cost to programs such as education.

There have been other proposals for tax cuts — such as a reduction in the sales tax, which might be more palatable to lawmakers and more fair to citizens — but nothing has seemed to gain a popular footing with the people who can make such a thing happen, the 150 members of the Legislature.

Pence needs to give up the fight and cut his losses while he can. For a Republican with presidential aspirations, a failed tax cut would be a political black eye.