Dick Armey Visits Little Rock and Addresses Republican Caucus

Business Wire, Feb 3, 2009

Armey guest of State Representative Bryan King

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- Chairman of FreedomWorks and former House Majority Leader Dick Armey visited Little Rock on Tuesday, February 3rd at the invitation of House Minority Leader Bryan King (R-91). Armey addressed a caucus meeting of Republican legislators to discuss the importance of setting priorities in the budget and not raising taxes during a recession.

Dick Armey commented:

"A hearty thanks goes to Representative Bryan King for inviting me to Little Rock today. It was my pleasure to share a few of the lessons I learned in building the Republican Revolution of the 1990s with the next generation of conservative leadership. I spoke with a group today that understands pocketbook economic issues. They know a legislative body should do everything possible to live within its means and avoid raising taxes. And with Arkansas running a surplus, raising taxes on the poor and middle class during a recession is just unacceptable.

Legislators need to make the tough choices necessary and allocate scarce budget resources for priorities without resorting to gimmicks and regressive taxes. Not only is it unfair to burden one politically unpopular group with disproportionate and excessive taxes, but these gimmicky taxes and fees are an unreliable source of revenue. When the expected revenues do not flow into state coffers, officials will turn to additional taxes to fill the gap and maintain their ever-expanding bureaucracy.

As the nation faces a stiff economic headwind, states should focus on cutting spending and waste, making government more efficient, and removing burdensome regulations that stand in the way of long-term growth. The last thing they should do is raise taxes on the poor and middle class."

FreedomWorks is a grassroots organization with over 500,000 members nationwide dedicated to lower taxes, less government, and more freedom.