More on Taxes

One thing that most people either don't realize or conveniently ignore when criticizing Huckabee's record as Governor is that when he ascended to the office, he inherited a state that was broke and broken. Huckabee followed Jim Guy Tucker, who had immediately succeeded Bill Clinton. Under Clinton and Tucker, Arkansas had failed to maintain the basic infrastructure of the state. The schools were in shambles—often literally. The roads were in shambles—often literally. The money to fix these inherited problems had to come from somewhere. Raising some taxes (while lowering others) allowed the State of Arkansas to make necessary improvements to areas that are the proper province of a State Government. It's not as if he was raising the tax burden on an already over-taxed State like Massachusetts.