Sometimes it’s what’s not said that makes the greatest impression.
And so it may have been with Gov. Lincoln Almond’s recent state of the state address. While proposing a number of initiatives and support for elimination of the capital gains tax, Governor Almond did not talk about health care and how the high cost of health care insurance is choking many companies.
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He didn’t talk about tax reform, with the exception of capital gains. Not mentioned were the piggy back income tax, inventory, property or sales tax, nor did he address, pro or con, the earned income tax credit that’s been proposed to help the working poor.
Governor Almond didn’t talk about downsizing government, the Quonset Port development, or controlling energy costs.
While many of these may be on his agenda, the state of the state address states his priorities.
The areas we’ve mentioned in this editorial were all raised by respondents to our weekly executive poll, who were asked if they supported certain initiatives proposed by the governor, and what important issues they felt he failed to address. The results are on page 3.
In some cases these issues are critical, maybe more critical than the mentoring program or technology center that the governor included among his initiatives. Important as those initiatives may be, we believe that it would have been equally or more important to address the crises in health care and energy, and encourage solutions to our regressive tax system that is cited in all those surveys that suggest we rank near the bottom in creating an environment that supports and nurtures entrepreneurial activity.
We hope that in the weeks ahead, as he regains his strength after his recent surgery, Governor Almond recognizes the importance of each of these issues and makes them at least as high a priority as those items he felt compelled to highlight in his state of the state address.
