Did Mark Warner make Virginia Budgets worse?
By Brian Kirwin | Monday, February 15th, 2010 | PolicyIsn’t it amazing that only 6 years after the largest tax increase in Virginia’s history, our friends on the left think government needs to raise taxes again?
The whining is echoing throughout the halls of the General Assembly. Democrats urging Bob McDonnell to somehow invent a budget on his own so that Democrats can do the only thing other than raise taxes that they’re good at – negative attacks.
Nope. That’s not the system, folks. Democrats in Washington who loved the filibuster in the Bush era now hate it in the Obama era. And Democrats in Virginia want the Governor to do their jobs for them.
But I wonder if Mark Warner’s “structural imbalance” tax increase is making all this worse.
His 2004 tax restructuring shifted the state budget’s reliance more on consumption taxes (Sales taxes, taxes on home sales). That seems like a recipe for disaster in a recession. Sure, in boom times, Virginia will probably rake in the money, but in the bust years, like this one, when consumer spending AND real estate both are at generational lows, we rely on them more than ever.
Warner shifted the budget’s reliance away from more stable revenues, like income and food taxes. People need to eat and need to earn some kind of living. But they don’t necessarily need to buy new homes or shop for big-ticket, big-tax items in a down economy. So, Mark Warner gave us a budget that makes good economies even better for government.
But I believe he made our recession hole deeper to climb out of as well.
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About the author
The right wants to jeer him. The left wants to censor him. Moderates usually want both. Brian Kirwin is a political consultant and public relations strategist in Virginia Beach with a lightning-rod flair. Brian also serves on the VB Arts & Humanities Commission and frequently appears on Hampton Roads theatrical stages, if only to prove that all actors aren’t liberals. Kirwin’s columns stir up debate and hit the political scene with no punches pulled.
Comments
One Response to "Did Mark Warner make Virginia Budgets worse?"
The Dems in the legislature have been gambling with taxes, fees lots of other creative schemes to separate us from “their” money. And as pointed out,their luck has run out and the flailing has begun.
Someone should introduce a bill to force those Legislators with a taxing addiction into “Gamblers Anonymous” as an intervention. The first step, however, is to admit that they have this addiction which isn’t in their DNA.
Or just legalize gambling and let them vent their taxing, tolling and fee instincts there, rather than continuing to involve the rest of us in their addiction.
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