5 Most Hardcore Libertarian Positions of William Weld
2. Taxes and Spending
In the economic sphere, there is not much room to complain about Weld. In three gradings of his fiscal policies as governor by the Cato Institute, he earned one “A” and two “B” grades. During his gubernatorial reign, he cut taxes nine times and rolled back $2 billion in tax increases which had been instituted by his predecessors. He even once gave a speech in which he stated that “I think coercive taxation is theft, and government has a moral duty to keep it to a minimum.”
When describing Weld in 2005, The American Spectator made it clear that he was not simply a “moderate Republican,” as that would suggest he took a more centrist stance on fiscal policy. W. James Antle III continued:
Bill Weld, on the other hand, truly mixes fiscal conservatism with social liberalism. As governor of Massachusetts he cut taxes sixteen times, balanced the budget annually, pursued privatization, vetoed minimum wage increases, and even rejected higher levies on cigarettes to pay for health care for children. (Let’s repeat that last one: He vetoed a cigarette-tax hike that would have paid for children’s health care — in Massachusetts.)
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