"When I became governor, spending actually increased 28 percent my first term. Revenue increased 42 percent my first term without raising anybody's taxes. We did it because we had more taxpayers with more taxable income. That's how you get the revenue up. We did that without raising anybody's taxes"
About this Quote
Haley Barbour points to a core claim of supply-side governance: revenue can rise without tax hikes if the economy expands and the tax base broadens. As Mississippi governor in the mid-2000s, he says spending went up 28 percent in his first term while revenue climbed 42 percent, accomplished not by raising rates but by adding more taxpayers with higher taxable incomes. The argument is straightforward math: unchanged rates multiplied by a larger base yield more revenue.
The line also signals a political stance. Barbour, a Republican and former RNC chair, was making the case that fiscal conservatism does not have to mean austerity. He implies that pro-growth policies, regulatory predictability, and business-friendly incentives can generate enough activity to fund government services, even allow spending growth, without resorting to higher taxes.
Context matters. Mississippi in those years experienced both a national expansion before the 2008 crisis and the extraordinary disruption and rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Construction booms, insurance payouts, and significant federal dollars flowed through the state, boosting activity and state collections. Some of what shows up as revenue and spending growth can reflect cyclical upswings, inflation, and federal pass-through funds rather than a purely endogenous surge in private-sector income. Percentages can also flatter small baselines; Mississippi’s budget is comparatively modest, so swings look larger.
The underlying idea, however, remains salient: policy choices that raise employment and wages will lift revenue even with constant tax rates. The limits are equally real. Growth-driven surges can be temporary, vulnerable to downturns, and uneven across regions and industries. They do not eliminate hard trade-offs when expansions fade. Barbour’s boast functions both as a defense of a pro-growth, low-tax philosophy and as a reminder to scrutinize the sources of fiscal windfalls. Durable prosperity requires policies that expand the base broadly, not one-off spikes, and budget discipline that anticipates the next cycle as much as it celebrates the current one.
The line also signals a political stance. Barbour, a Republican and former RNC chair, was making the case that fiscal conservatism does not have to mean austerity. He implies that pro-growth policies, regulatory predictability, and business-friendly incentives can generate enough activity to fund government services, even allow spending growth, without resorting to higher taxes.
Context matters. Mississippi in those years experienced both a national expansion before the 2008 crisis and the extraordinary disruption and rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Construction booms, insurance payouts, and significant federal dollars flowed through the state, boosting activity and state collections. Some of what shows up as revenue and spending growth can reflect cyclical upswings, inflation, and federal pass-through funds rather than a purely endogenous surge in private-sector income. Percentages can also flatter small baselines; Mississippi’s budget is comparatively modest, so swings look larger.
The underlying idea, however, remains salient: policy choices that raise employment and wages will lift revenue even with constant tax rates. The limits are equally real. Growth-driven surges can be temporary, vulnerable to downturns, and uneven across regions and industries. They do not eliminate hard trade-offs when expansions fade. Barbour’s boast functions both as a defense of a pro-growth, low-tax philosophy and as a reminder to scrutinize the sources of fiscal windfalls. Durable prosperity requires policies that expand the base broadly, not one-off spikes, and budget discipline that anticipates the next cycle as much as it celebrates the current one.
Quote Details
| Topic | Money |
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