Bearden rolls back the House's tax cut

For someone so well-connected at the Capitol, you'd think that Carl Bearden would do a better job shilling for the House Republicans' tax cut plans. Check out how he describes the House's tax cut plans in op-ed published in today's New-Leader:

Members of the House want to give back about $1 billion over two years by reducing the highest tax rate from 6 percent to 5.5 percent. That two-year period coincides with the time that the state is expected to receive more than $4 billion in federal stimulus funds.

Curiously, Bearden neglects to mention that the House leadership is no longer proposing a two-year tax cut; they're now pushing a permanent income tax cut, over the objections of their own caucus. Bearden is either slow to update his talking points (it's been a challenge for all of us to keep up with the evolving plans in the House), or he's not interesting in promoting such an irresponsible fiscal policy that's opposed by his fellow GOPers.  Republicans in the House and Senate are both opposed to the new House plan because of its limited stimulative effects and the drastic cuts it would require in basic services.

There's also a certain irony in Bearden's assertions that the House's tax cut plan is most certainly legal.  "It's ludicrous and plain wrong," he writes.  I may have missed it, but did Bearden say that Speaker Ron Richard was "ludicrous and plain wrong" when he claimed that very thing on national TV ten days ago?