 "Photo: Jordy Wagoner/ The Daily Texan")
Gov. Rick Perry signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge on Thursday, thereby committing to not increase state taxes and oppose others’ efforts to do so.
Perry is now one of the more than 1,100 state officeholders to pledge their allegiance to not raising taxes.
The pledge is a product of the national nonprofit lobbying organization, Americans for Tax Reform, which was created by Grover Norquist in 1985 under the Reagan Administration.
The pledge is a written commitment from legislators and candidates to oppose any measure to increase taxes.
Perry, who is running for reelection in 2010, supports tax reform without increase.
“We’ve watched governments strangle their economies [and] drain their citizens,” Perry said. “Here in Texas, we work to keep taxes low.”
Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, clarified that the goal of the pledge is to ensure for no net tax increase, but leaves room for tax reform.
“The pledge does not get in the way of reforming taxes,” he said. “It simply draws a line and says that tax reform can never be used as a mask for tax increases.”
Norquist said Perry’s transparency, or his method of keeping extensive records of state agency spending online and open to the public, has been emulated by 24 other state governments.
Due to the nonprofit status of Americans for Tax Reform, Norquist said he cannot openly support Perry, but spoke highly of his efforts to refrain from raising taxes.
“Raising taxes is what politicians do if they don’t have the guts to govern,” Norquist said.
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, who is running in the 2010 gubernatorial election against Perry for the Republican nomination, opposes tax increases and has signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge.
Hutchison spokesman Joe Pounder said that based on Perry’s past, he will be unable to keep the pledge.
“Perry has a long record back to the 1980s of raising taxes, and the people of Texas know it because they are paying those higher taxes,” Pounder said.
Pounder said that unlike Perry, Hutchison has upheld the pledge, as seen in her work as a senator.
“She will oppose efforts to increase taxes, and she will restrain government spending, which is a proven formula for [a] successful conservative leader,” he said.
Clay Robison, spokesman for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tom Schieffer, said even though Perry has not raised taxes, Texans are paying more for government services, including health care and college tuition.
“It is a cynical manipulation of the political process to blame increased government costs on somebody else when you were the one that caused the price of the service to go up,” Robison said.
