Grover's Growing Irrelevance

Star-Telegram.com | 03/16/2005 | Tax activist clears Republicans who voted for bill

Oh, how funny can this get? The Texas GOP (and one Dem) votes to raise taxes on every Texan making less than $100,000 ... votes to give Texas the highest sales tax in the nation, even. And the Alpha Tax Cutter, Grover Norquist blesses the vote. Yes, you heard it ... Grover Norquist supports the highest sales tax in the nation. No wonder his Americans for Tax Reform is growing in only one category: irrelevance.

But wait ... there's more. LOTS more.

Speaker Tom Craddick has had it up to his eyeballs in crap from Grover. This is after he put his blessing on Craddick's tax hike:

Also signing the vow to "oppose and vote against any and all efforts to increase taxes" were state Rep. Kent Grusendorf, R-Arlington, and House Speaker Tom Craddick, R-Midland. Craddick criticized Americans for Tax Reform, saying the group is pressuring legislators who signed a pledge long ago. The speaker said the pledge should only last for one session of the Legislature, which is required to meet only once every two years.

"I have several members that are irritated with them, feeling that they signed it several years ago, and now they're passing stuff out in their district about it," Craddick said. "I think they have to look at it session by session."

Yeah, I guess it just depends on what the definition of "pledge" is.

Meanwhile, Grover parses the bill somewhat, noting that the one element that has bipartisan support (broadening the business tax) is offensive to him and that the snack tax will be hard to enforce. Hmm, good thing he bought that silly little party line about "revenue neutrality," I guess.

Of course, poor Grover has a lot invested in Texas' tax situation. He's already scolded one tax hiking Republican party in Indiana, telling them to act like another tax-hiking Republican Party in Texas:

?On behalf of Indiana's families and businesses,? Norquist wrote Indiana state legislators, ?I urge you to prevent Gov. Daniels from closing Indiana for business, and turn to people like [Texas] Gov. Rick Perry ... for alternative solutions.? But just four days later, it was Perry's turn to break Norquist's heart. Introducing a new tax program to the Texas Association of Businesses, Perry said Texas had a ?once in a generation opportunity...to put in place an educational system to really impact our children and our children's children.?

Hat Tip Pollyanna