Rick Perry Said He 'Never Raised Taxes' While Serving As Texas Governor. That's Not The Case.
Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry said he “never raised taxes” in his 14 years as governor of the state. That’s not the case. During his tenure, he increased taxes on businesses, cigarettes, fireworks, diesel equipment and insurance.
It’s true that Perry did not raise broad-based taxes such as an individual income tax — the state doesn’t have one — or the state retail sales tax while governor. Texas’ tax burden for state and local individual taxes ranks 47th in the nation, according to the Tax Foundation’s fiscal 2011 numbers, the most recent available. (Tax burden is the total amount of taxes paid by state residents divided by total income.)
But “never raised taxes”? That’s a tough boast to back-up, and, in fact, Perry can’t accurately claim it.
A spokesman for Perry says that he “never increased taxes, on net.” But that’s not what the governor said, and that qualifier would only negate some of the tax increases that were packaged with tax cuts under Perry’s tenure.
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