Comparison Of Campaign Promises Of Sonny Perdue And Mark Taylor

Comparison of Campaign Promises of Sonny Perdue and Mark Taylor

Both Sonny Perdue (Republican) and Mark Taylor (Democrat) have made many promises about issues during the 2006 campaign for governor of Georgia. To help put the promises in perspective, it helps to consider the different views of the Republican and Democratic parties. Although not always the case, many people consider the Republican Party to govern by doing what is best for business. The expectation is that if business prospers, it will promote prosperity of the citizens. The Democratic Party is seen as governing by a bigger government that provides for the citizens, sometimes at the expense of big business.

Sonny Perdue has promised to eliminate state income tax for seniors over 65. Perdue's plan would provide tax relief too approximately 305,000 Georgians.

Mark Taylor has promised to eliminate state property taxes. Taylor's plan would provide a smaller amount of tax relief than Perdue's plan, but would apply to approximately 2.5 million Georgians. Taylor also wants to eliminate the sales tax on over the counter drugs. Both Perdue and Taylor plan to pay for the tax cuts by cutting spending on other programs.

Mark Taylor promises to restore funding to healthcare programs that he claims Perdue cut. He says he will restore the funding for the Katie Beckett Program. This program provides funds for parents of kids with expensive, long-term conditions. Taylor claims that Perdue cut the program along with other healthcare programs for kids and the needy.

Perdue claims that Taylor's facts just don't add up. Perdue signed legislation that moved Peachcare (a state program providing medical care for kids and the needy), and Medicaid patients into a health maintenance type of program. He claims the move will be more beneficial to the participants in the long run because patients will receive more preventative care. Perdue also says that he has funded $7.6 million that will take effect April 2007 to make sure no child slips through the cracks. Perdue has also proposed the Georgia Child Care Tax Credit. This would return $50 million back to parents.

Perdue claims that his top priority is education. He promises that as long as he is governor, Georgia teachers will be the highest paid in the Southeast. He promises to increase Georgia's graduation rate. He supports these promises by his current programs of hiring graduation counselors for each high school, recruiting "high performance principals", and attracting and retaining the best teachers.

Taylor has promised to restore funding to the HOPE program and end education cuts. Taylor claims that as a percentage of spending, the local governments are paying more of the education bill because of cuts by Perdue. Perdue also signed legislation that cut some