Mitch is not my man

Mitch did an interview with the Post-Trib yesterday, and he said some things that I really have a hard time accepting:

City controller Celita Green has blamed Gary's budget shortfall on uncollected property taxes and assessment errors.

Green also points to the Lake County Council's failure to pass a local income tax last year. The state froze every tax levy in Lake County as a result.

Daniels defended that decision Tuesday. He pointed to skyrocketing property tax bills in Lake County, the only county in Indiana that doesn't have an income tax.

"I'll be glad when the county officials get their act together," Daniels said.

The governor also said he'd be willing to listen to proposals to put more of the local tax burden on large corporations like U.S. Steel.

State lawmakers gave tax breaks to major Lake County industries in 2003.

Meanwhile, U.S. Steel announced last month its second-quarter net income had doubled this year from last.

However, Daniels said a return to previous taxing levels for major industry wouldn't be acceptable.

"Those facilities were the most highly taxed anywhere in the world of steel," Daniels said.

I read these quotes as saying that he supports the County Option Income Tax in Lake County, and that he will support gutting HB 1858, which gave the big companies on the Lake tax relief.

This guy is a Republican? Why, exactly, should I support a Republican that is going to raise my taxes and give more money to Democrats?

HB 1858 was THE most important piece of tax legislation... ever? Okay, not ever, but it is important. It killed the big cities cash cow, and forced them to downsize significantly. That means less public employees, which means less Democrats.

As for an income tax in Lake County... we've gone over that a lot before. Not gonna happen.

Anyway, this interview makes me even less enthusiastic for Mitch than I was before, which wasn't easy to do!