Jeb Bush's tax stand could plague presidential run

There is something about taxes, spending and the name “Bush” that can set conservatives on edge, especially now that Jeb Bush is talking like a man who might run for president.

The latest example came earlier this month when testimony Mr. Bush gave at a 2012 House Budget Committee hearing suddenly resurfaced in a news story. In those two-year-old comments, Mr. Bush said he could accept a fiscal deal of $1 in tax increases for every $10 in spending cuts that Democrats would agree to — a position that drew sharp criticism from one of the nation’s fiscal hawks.

“Jeb stabbed Republicans in the back just when they were unified in insisting on major spending cuts with no tax increases,” Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist told The Washington Times.

President Obama and the Democrats had made no quid pro quo offer on taxes and spending at the time, Mr. Norquist said. The statement also revived for many Republicans the famous “read my lips” promise of Mr. Bush’s father, President George H.W. Bush, a promise later broken in a 1990 budget deal with congressional Democrats.

In an email to The Washington Times, Jeb Bush’s spokeswoman Kristy Campbell said flatly that her boss does not favor raising taxes, despite the testimony recounted in the story that ran in Politico last week.

“As Florida’s chief executive, Gov. Bush cut taxes by more than $19 billion dollars for families and businesses. At the same time, budget reserves in the state rose from $1.3 billion in 1998 to $9.8 billion in 2006,” Ms. Campbell said. “His record on cutting taxes and exercising strong fiscal discipline speaks for itself.”

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