Here’s another golden oldie: this one from Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform, in a press release dated Feb. 24, 2005. It’s titled, “No Such Thing as a Temporary Tax Increase in North Carolina:”

WASHINGTON, D.C. ? After increasing taxes three of the last four years Gov. Mike Easley has proposed raising the sales tax and income tax again. In 2001 ? the governor?s first year in office ? he pushed a ?temporary? sales and income tax increase through the legislature.

The temporary tax increase was scheduled to sunset in 2003. But Easley pushed the legislature to pass another ?temporary? tax in 2003. And true to form, Gov. Easley is again pushing to implement these higher taxes again in 2005.

?This is a classic example of how temporary taxes work,? commented Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform. ?A temporary tax increase is advocated in order to address some crisis. But throwing more money at the problem means that there is no incentive to really fix the root causes of the crisis ? spending goes up and pushes the crisis into the next budget cycle. Every so-called temporary increase adds fuel to the fire and virtually guarantees another temporary tax increase will be needed when the last one expires.?

This increase along with a potential cigarette tax increase will go to cover a spending increase of 5 to 6 percent. The increase would take from the taxpayers an additional $863 million over the next two years; $413 million this year along with $459 million the following year.

Norquist added, ?Gov. Easley has deceived his constituents by presenting his tax increases as temporary. He now wants to impose a third round of temporary increases, proving that this new higher rate of taxing and spending will be the norm in the state. After fours years in office, Gov. Easley has not reformed government to make future tax increases unnecessary; instead he has worked consistently to sneak higher taxes past the families and businesses of North Carolina.?

See? You didn’t even need to live in the state to understand that the governor and legislators were full of crap.