Pelath on Holcomb’s agenda: Welcome to the era of tax and spend Republicans

INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana House Democratic Leader Scott Pelath from Michigan City today issued the following statement after Gov.-elect Eric Holcomb announced his agenda for the 2017 session of the Indiana General Assembly:

“At first glance, I must say this proposal contains a lot of taxing and spending. If this program had been announced by a Democratic governor, I suspect the Republicans in the House and Senate already would have sharpened their pitchforks and made plans to storm the battlements.

“But the unique dilemma facing our next governor and his party will be to reach a medium between an honestly-held desire to improve many areas in our state against a steadfast party dogma that taxes cannot be raised and government spending is bad. Already I have seen the usual complaints about state lawmakers living up to the pledges they signed so many years ago. Many will find that a commitment made when you weren’t in charge of government can take a whole new light when you run the show.

“I cannot deny that there are many things here that are worthy of bipartisan support. Indiana House Democrats do recognize the need to improve our infrastructure, and it has been good to see a general recognition that taxes collected on the sale of gasoline should go toward improving our roads.

“We will need to hear more about this impressive array of tax increases that are being discussed here. Merely calling them user fees will not remove the stigma that comes with asking people to pay more than they have in the past.

“And while I applaud the commitment to expansion of pre-K, I find this program distressingly vague on ways to improve the ongoing troubles facing our state’s public schools. Thanks in large part to previous administrations’ hyper-salivation over charters and vouchers and the like, the schools that carry most of the heavy lifting for educating Hoosier children are having to do more with less state support. We need to listen to them more closely.

“Now that we are figuring out the parameters of debate for the 2017 session, Indiana House Democrats stand ready to offer their services to help these warring factions within the Republican majorities find an answer to their dilemma. Our role will be to make sure that the voices of those who feel they are ignored by government can be heard.”