2017 Governor's State of the State speeches: on Tax Reform

John Bel Edwards: Reform tax structure or face $1.3B fiscal cliff in 2018

Last year, you created a task force that spent months studying the most responsible way to reform our tax and budget structure. What we found from this review is that the options are no easier, or even substantially different, than the ones we have considered in the past. I fully support the task force's recommendations for structural tax reform. Many of the recommendations of the task force were the very same solutions I proposed last year. So now we have a choice. We can simply go down the same road we have travelled time and again--hoping for different results. Or we can chart a new path.

John Bel Edwards: Reduce sales tax; eliminate federal income tax deductibility

John Carney: Share sacrifice of budget cuts and tax hikes

I've proposed an operating budget that grows government spending less than 3/10 of 1%. It contains a 50-50 mix of spending cuts & new revenue. It's built on the principle of shared sacrifice.

Our north star in building this budget was making Delaware more competitive. While we went line by line, deciding which programs to cut and which to preserve, which taxes to raise and which to leave untouched, we asked ourselves the same question over and over again: "How will this decision impact our ability to grow our economy and compete?"

It would be easy to get lost in the doom and gloom of budget cuts and tax hikes. There is something in our budget for everyone not to like.

Jim Justice: Increase fees, gas tax, and business tax to close deficit

Now, there are two ways you can get there. The first way is to just cut more. Are you willing to eliminate all of our state parks? Are you willing to eliminate all of your colleges and universities other than Marshall and WVU? Shut them down? Are you really truly willing to gut your seniors?

You gotta cut all that we can possibly cut. But I've got to have everybody in this state pay a half of a penny in additional sales tax. There is no way around it. I've got to have you pay instead of $30 in DMV fees, I've got to have you pay $50. I've got to have our businesses pay 0.2% in a tax that would be equivalent to a B&O tax. And the last thing is I've got to have ten cents a gallon on gasoline. Now, I am telling you: If you don't do this, you're dead. You're dead beyond belief.

Greg Abbott: The only good tax is a dead tax

Speaking of taxes, Texans are being crushed by property taxes. Their property tax bills often increase far faster than household income. No government should be able to tax people out of their homes. No government should be able to disregard the private property rights of its citizens.

Texas should not stand for it. We must remember: Property owners are not renting their land from the city. That is why we need property tax reform that prevents cities from raising property taxes without voter approval. We need serious property tax reform with a real revenue cap.

Mark Dayton: Tax cuts for the wealthy do not lead to economic growth

No one has raised the state sales tax since 2008, except on tobacco. Nevertheless, some politicians still try to mislead Minnesotans into believing that I have raised their taxes. They also claim that more tax cuts are the keys to our future economic growth. In 1999 and again in 2000, Minnesota's elected leaders tried just that. Yet, cutting Minnesota's income taxes did not noticeably boost the state's economy, either before the Great Recession, or during it. What those lower tax rates did do, however, was to drive the State Budget into severe and lasting deficits. NO, low taxes have never been Minnesota's path to prosperity. Instead, it is the public investments we have made with those tax revenues--that have been the keys to our citizens' better standards of living.

Gina Raimondo: Reduced the corporate minimum tax

Our business climate is stronger. Last year, we cut our unemployment insurance tax for the first time since 1992, saving employers $30 million. We eliminated the sales tax on energy and reduced the corporate minimum tax. And it's all paying off. Because of the hard choices we've made together and the strategic investments we've protected, businesses are finally taking a fresh look at Rhode Island.

Gina Raimondo: Cut car tax by at least 30%

As we come together to begin this work, let's commit ourselves to reform that's fair, fiscally responsible, sustainable in the long run and provides relief for every Rhode Islander.

Chris Christie: Put the death tax on life support