Dinosaur Steve Versus The Axe Man

In three weeks here in Kentucky we'll choose a governor.  Democratic incumbent Steve Beshear is famous for giving tens of millions in tax breaks to the Ark Park, and he's the guy I'm voting for without hesitation.  It should tell you how bad his opponent, Republican David Williams, truly is.  Here's the Williams economic plan:  Axe the Tax.

Republican gubernatorial nominee David Williams wants to eliminate state personal and corporate income taxes as part of his plan to create and retain jobs in Kentucky.

Williams' plan, released Wednesday, also recommends several short-term tax suspensions designed to jump-start Kentucky's job market and several changes in the law, including allowing voters to decide whether their counties should have a right-to-work law, which would allow an employee to opt out of joining a union.

The plan also would allow voters to decide whether their local governments should have to pay the prevailing wage for public works projects.

Revenue problem?  Why, I have no idea what you're talking about.  Knocking out some $3.8 billion in yearly revenue (more than 10%) doesn't seem to bother the Axe Man much.  What will the state do in the meantime?

Williams did not explicitly say how he would make up for revenue if income taxes are eliminated, but his plan calls for a commission of economic and tax experts to come up with a new state and local tax structure that would receive an up-or-down vote in the legislature.

He has no clue.  When your entire economic plan is "eliminate the state income tax and wait until A Wild Jobs Appears and throw a Pokeball at it" it seems people aren't taking it very seriously at all around here as Williams has been forced to complain it's the media's fault why he's losing by 30 points.  The again, maybe it's because that "new state and local tax structure" will of course fall directly on working class families in the form of his new "consumption tax".

Williams would replace the state’s personal and corporate income taxes with a broader consumption tax of some sort. He says of this proposal, “If you tax consumption, people will make discerning choices about consumption and you will encourage productivity.”

Consumption taxes as a substitute for income taxes is backwards tax policy at its worst and is catastrophic for middle- and low- income families. In fact, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP)  found that the impact of a similar proposal in 2009 was disastrous:  the poorest 20 percent of Kentuckians would have seen their taxes rise by $136 on average, while the richest one percent would have received an average tax cut of $40,910.

But Williams has managed one thing, however:  he's made me want to get up early in three weeks and go vote for Dinosaur Steve.  Who said Kentucky Republicans can't accomplish things?