Reply #43: There is a great difference

[Nicholas_J]

Dean is not a tax and spend Democrat.

But he was a tax cut and proram cut conservative in Vermont, contrary to the New Democrat Platform of the Hyde Park Declaration.

DLC | Key Document | August 1, 2000
The Hyde Park Declaration: A Statement of Principles and a Policy Agenda for the 21st Century


Publisher's Note: Last May, at the invitation of the Democratic Leadership Council, elected officials from across the country met at Franklin D. Roosevelt's estate in Hyde Park, N.Y. Their goal was to begin drafting a statement of New Democrat principles and a broad national policy agenda for the next decade. This manifesto, The Hyde Park Declaration, is the result of their work.

The Hyde Park Declaration has a historic antecedent. At their 1990 annual meeting, held in New Orleans, DLC members -- chaired by then-Gov. Bill Clinton of Arkansas -- issued The New Orleans Declaration. That statement of principles became the guiding philosophy of Clinton's 1992 run for the presidency and later that of his presidential administration. The New Orleans Declaration's call for a citizen-government relationship based on the values of opportunity, responsibility, and community subsequently became the main organizing principle of Third Way political movements in Britain and around the world...


DLC | Key Document | August 1, 2000
The Hyde Park Declaration: A Statement of Principles and a Policy Agenda for the 21st Century


Publisher's Note: Last May, at the invitation of the Democratic Leadership Council, elected officials from across the country met at Franklin D. Roosevelt's estate in Hyde Park, N.Y. Their goal was to begin drafting a statement of New Democrat principles and a broad national policy agenda for the next decade. This manifesto, The Hyde Park Declaration, is the result of their work.

The Hyde Park Declaration has a historic antecedent. At their 1990 annual meeting, held in New Orleans, DLC members -- chaired by then-Gov. Bill Clinton of Arkansas -- issued The New Orleans Declaration. That statement of principles became the guiding philosophy of Clinton's 1992 run for the presidency and later that of his presidential administration. The New Orleans Declaration's call for a citizen-government relationship based on the values of opportunity, responsibility, and community subsequently became the main organizing principle of Third Way political movements in Britain and around the world.

"Because of the work done in New Orleans and the fact that the American people gave us a chance two years later to test it, we have proven that ideas matter, and that for the decade of the '90s our ideas were the right ones," President Clinton told the Hyde Park gathering. "They have put the Democratic Party at the vital center of American life."

"Now, I think we have a rare opportunity to identify and move on the big, long-term challenges the country faces in the new century," he continued. " both the opportunity and the responsibility to put forth a declaration here which will guide our party and should guide our nation for the next 10 years. ... I've done everything I could to turn the ship of state around. Now you've got to make sure that it keeps sailing in the right direction."

A partial list of signatories of The Hyde Park Declaration appears at the end of the document. The full list will be available at a later date.

To order additional copies of The Hyde Park Declaration, call the DLC at 1-800-546-0027.

Al From
President
Democratic Leadership Council



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A New Politics for a New America

At the beginning of a new century and new millennium we see a nation in the midst of a great transformation.

As modernizers of the American progressive political tradition, we call for a new politics for the next decade to reflect new realities.

These new realities include:


An information-, technology-driven, and ever more global New Economy that is changing the way Americans work, live, and communicate with each other.

A population that is rapidly becoming more diverse, more affluent, more educated, more suburban, more "wired," less political, and more centrist.

The emergence of a new social structure, in which the "learning class" of well-educated and skilled citizens prospers while those without education and skills are at risk of being left behind.

The aging of the population, creating new intergenerational tensions over resources for schools, retirement, and health care.

A generational change in attitudes as the New Deal/World War II generation gives way to the baby boom and GenX generations that are far more skeptical about politics and government, even as they crave a "higher politics" of moral purpose.

A rapidly changing global environment in which American values and interests are predominant, but in which we face a new series of international challenges based not on a monolithic threat from another superpower, but on regional instability, economic rivalries, ethnic conflicts, rogue states, and terrorism.
Where We Stand

In keeping with our party's grand tradition, we reaffirm Jefferson's belief in individual liberty and capacity for self-government. We endorse Jackson's credo of equal opportunity for all, special privileges for none. We embrace Roosevelt's thirst for innovation and Kennedy's summons to civic duty. And we intend to carry on Clinton's insistence upon new means to achieve progressive ideals.

As New Democrats, we believe in a Third Way that rejects the old left-right debate and affirms America's basic bargain: opportunity for all, responsibility from all, and community of all.

We believe in free enterprise to stimulate economic innovation and growth and in public activism to ensure that everyone can share in America's prosperity.

We believe that government's proper role in the New Economy is to equip working Americans with new tools for economic success and security.

We believe in expanding trade and investment because we must be a party of economic progress, not economic reaction.

We believe that global markets demand global rules and institutions to ensure fair competition and to provide checks and balances on private power.

We believe that fiscal discipline is fundamental to sustained economic growth as well as responsible government.

We believe that a progressive tax system is the only fair way to pay for government.

We believe the Democratic Party's mission is to expand opportunity, not government.

We believe that education must be America's great equalizer, and we will not abandon our public schools or tolerate their failure.



LET US LOOK AT TWO KEY ECONOMIC STATEMENT IN THIS DECLARATION:


We believe that fiscal discipline is fundamental to sustained economic growth as well as responsible government.

We believe that a progressive tax system is the only fair way to pay for government.



Deans stance and performance as governor was something very,very different


Progressives call for higher taxes for rich
January 25, 2002

By JACK HOFFMAN

Vermont Press Bureau

MONTPELIER — Vermont Progressives renewed their call Thursday for higher taxes on the wealthy in order to avoid some of the budget cuts that Gov. Howard Dean outlined earlier this week.

The Progressives, with support of a couple dozen Democrats and one Republican, proposed two new income tax surcharges. Taxes would go up 12.5 percent on taxable income between $43,000 and $158,000. On taxable income above $158,000, taxes would be increased 25 percent.

Taxable income is the amount left after personal exemptions and deductions have been subtracted from wages, business earnings and other types of income.

Currently, Vermont’s highest income tax rate is 9.5 percent. That is the rate paid on taxable income above $283,000. Under the plan the Progressives proposed Thursday, the highest Vermont tax rate would be 11.88 percent.

The coalition also called for a change in the tax on capital gains. Currently, Vermont treats long-term capital gains as the federal government does and taxes it at a lower rate. The highest rate Vermont collects on capital gains is 4.8 percent.

The Progressives said Thursday that gains on investments should be treated the same as salaries and wages that people are paid for their labor. They said the tax rate should for capital gains should be the same as it is for ordinary income...

Dean reiterated his opposition to raising the income tax shortly after the Progressives unveiled their tax plan. Dean contends Vermont’s marginal income tax rate — that is, the top rate paid by those in the highest income brackets — already is too high.


http://timesargus.nybor.com/Legislature/Story/41293.html


Dean's belief was that the rich paid too much, but an analysis of Vermonts taxation revealed something quite different:

Vermont’s Tax Code: No Breaks for the Poor and Middle Class
When all Vermont taxes are totaled up, the study found that:

The richest Vermont taxpayers—with average incomes of $686,000—pay 9.7% of their income in Vermont state and local taxes before accounting for the tax savings from federal itemized deductions. After the federal offset, they pay only 7.1%.

Middle-income taxpayers in Vermont—those earning between $27,000 and $44,000—pay 9.8% of their income in Vermont state and local taxes before the federal deduction offset and 9.5% after the offset—much more than what the rich pay.


# Vermont families earning less than $16,000—the poorest fifth of Vermont non-elderly taxpayers—pay 10% of their income in Vermont state and local taxes, one and half times the share the wealthiest Vermonters pay.

“Vermont’s income tax is not progressive enough to offset the regressivity of its sales and excise taxes,” McIntyre said. “Taxes ought to be based on people’s ability to pay them, which means that the share of income paid in taxes should rise as income grows, not fall as is the case in Vermont.”

http://216.239.51.100/search?q=cache:fJRaEEEPn3gJ:www.itepnet.org/wp2000/vt%2520pr.pdf+Vermont+Taxation+regressive+Tax+institute&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

Deans stance is only fiscaally responsible in the sense that consrevatives hold it to be conservative, that you cut taxes and cut services to balance the budget.

The New-Dem DLC platform is something quite different. A progressive tax system that taxes the wealthy at a higher rate than the middle class or poor is called for to support social legislation in order to
Support programs instead of cutting them.

Again, editorials are criticized, bt this one quotes those who had to deal with Dean:

Those who know Dean say he’s no classic liberal
By ROSS SNEYD

Associated Press Writer

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — Howard Dean may be many things, say those who worked with him over nearly a dozen years as Vermont governor, but an elitist liberal is hardly one of them.

He’s actually a lot more moderate — many would say conservative — than the reputation he’s built during his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Many of the people who were his allies and adversaries in Montpelier over his 20-year political career have been quietly bemused by the liberal persona he’s built as he campaigns in Iowa and New Hampshire, especially through his outspoken opposition to the war in Iraq...


Dean kept his distance from his party’s liberals during his governorship.

"He seemed to take glee in attacking us at every opportunity and using us as a way to form alliances with more conservative elements," said former state Sen. Cheryl Rivers, a leader of the state Democrats’ liberal wing and former chairwoman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee.

Dean fashioned himself a position in the political center of Vermont politics even as the state has moved steadily to the left.

"He’s socially progressive on issues of human rights and all the social issues and he’s fiscally very conservative. To me, that makes him a moderate," said former Sen. Nancy Chard, a member of the DLC who was chairwoman of the Senate Health and Welfare Committee during some of the years that Dean was pushing the Legislature to expand access to health care.

Many back in Vermont have shrugged their shoulders as they’ve watched Dean allow himself to be cast as a liberal. They know it’s not the first time politicians have miscalculated his political leanings.

Dean served in the Vermont House for four years and was in the midst of his third term as lieutenant governor in 1991 when the incumbent governor, a Republican, died.

The state was in a fiscal crisis at the time, working its way out of the biggest budget deficit in its history. Then-Gov. Richard Snelling had pushed a series of temporary tax increases and budget cuts through the Legislature and Dean took up that austerity plan as his own.

To the anger of more liberal members of his own party, he insisted that the tax increases be rolled back on schedule and then went on to work for additional tax cuts later in his tenure.

By the same token, though, he also supported raising taxes — as long as it wasn’t the income tax — when school funding crises and other issues arose that required it...

Throughout, he held a tight rein on state spending, repeatedly clashing with the Democrats who controlled the Legislature for most of his years as governor.

Dean trimmed spending or held down increases in areas held dear by the liberals. More than once, Dean went to battle over whether individual welfare benefits should rise under automatic cost of living adjustments. Liberals were particularly incensed when he tried that tactic on a program serving the blind, disabled and elderly, which he did several times.

Dean turned often to the bully pulpit to belittle and berate them.

Last year, in a news conference tirade that was typical of his budget feuds with the Legislature, Dean lambasted the Senate. "The Senate budget is in la-la land," Dean said last May. "They’re pretending there is no recession."

In the end, he got his way and proposed spending was cut before the budget was enacted.

"Certainly the Democratic caucus was never 100 percent behind him and where there were differences, it was around how progressive or how moderate he was," Chard said.

Rivers blames Dean for helping a third political party to flourish in Vermont that many say siphons votes from Democrats. "The Progressive Party gained some momentum during his years as governor because he was so conservative," Rivers said, although she said she still may support Dean for president.



http://www4.fosters.com/News2003/May2003/May_19/News/reg_vt0519a.asp



So Dean, as governor, was fiscally responsible, but not in the way that adhered to the principals of the democratic party. republicans were far more comfortable with his fiscal stance.