Editorial: No more ‘cowards’ in tax, budget votes

Friday, May 30, 2003 | 9:21 a.m.

In past sessions of the Legislature there have been separate votes for the state budget and the individual taxes that together add up to its total amount. This enabled legislators to have it both ways when certain new or increased taxes were unpopular with general voters or certain special interests. Pointing to their vote for the whole budget, they could say they supported the need for increased resources. Because individual tax increases were separate bills, however, they could vote no on any they thought represented political threats. To the voters who supported more state funding, they could say they voted for the increased budget. To the voters upset with higher taxes, they could say they voted against them.

On Wednesday, however, the Assembly Ways and Means Committee voted to put the tax plans into the same bill as the budget -- and the budget includes increased spending on education. This means a legislator would have to be on record as having voted for the tax increases if he votes for the budget. "We're not going to give anyone a chance to support education without funding it," Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, said. The past practice has been "the coward's way out," he said. We agree.