McDonnell announces budget surplus for third straight year; for third straight year, Obama-Kaine strategies have yet to yield a federal budget

When Gov. Bob McDonnell took office in 2010, the state faced a very uncertain future.

The national economy was reeling. Unemployment was over 9.5%. Consumer confidence was barely 55%. And Gov. Tim Kaine was trying to pay for budget shortfalls by raising taxes.

In January 2010, mere days after the inauguration of McDonnell, I posted:

In both 2008 and 2010, not a single delegate voted for either of Kaine’s tax bills.

Most recently, Kaine was proposing a 1% increase in the income tax rate from 5.75% to 6.75% – that measure failed yesterday by a vote of 0 in favor to 97 against.

This is a reminder of the 2008 vote where Kaine attempted to increase the gas tax, auto sales tax, home sales tax, and general sales tax – which was also resoundingly rejected 0 in favor to 98 against.

Kaine’s proposal was an effort to raise taxes by $2 billion in that budget. At the time, the Washington Post reported:

“The increase would mean a hike in the income tax rate from 5.75 percent to 6.75 percent for those earning more than $17,000, 60 percent of taxpayers.”

In other words, to pay for fiscal mismanagement, Kaine’s approach was to increase taxes on those who could least afford it.

The state was staring at very dim prospects.

In FY2010, the budget shortfall was $1.8 billion. And the 2011/2012 budget had an even more ominous deficit of $4.2 billion (see governor’s statement).

Yet, McDonnell, along with the General Assembly, got down to business and managed to get both the FY10 and FY11/12 budgets back in the black – all without raising taxes.

” When the General Assembly convened I made it clear that we would not balance Virginia’s budget by making it harder for Virginians to balance their own,” said McDonnell in 2010. “Through bipartisan cooperation we made tough realistic decisions and closed that shortfall without a tax increase. We continued this work by addressing the unprecedented $4.2 billion shortfall in the Fiscal Year 2011/2012 budget, the spending document that has just gone into effect, in the same manner. We have reduced state spending in this new biennium to 2006 levels. At the same time we put in place funding for a number of job-creating incentives and programs that are already helping us attract new employers to the Commonwealth.”

The hard work that began in 2010 by members of the General Assembly and the commonwealth’s Chief Executive has continued to pay off.

Photo by Michaele White, Office of the Governor of Virginia.
Today, McDonnell announced to the Joint Money Committees in Richmond that the state has posted a revenue surplus of $448.5 million in FY2012, for a total of $1.4 billion in surpluses over the past three years.

“This is a bipartisan accomplishment, and not bad for any state in this uncertain economy. While the crafting of these budgets was hard fought over the past three years, the final product and good results were well worth the debate,” McDonnell said. “Simply put: Over the past 3 years we have brought in more revenue than forecasted, and spent less than budgeted. That is responsible fiscal management. It is the Virginia way….”

It might be the Virginia way, but it clearly is not the Kaine way. And it is clearly not the Obama way either.

Kaine and Obama share a similar approach to governance. Kaine could not get a single vote for his budget here in the state and the same is true for the budgets submitted at the federal level by President Obama.

The Virginia way is simply called leadership. It’s called service. It’s called living within your means. It’s called individuals looking out for their neighbors and looking out for the future. It’s called creating an environment of certainty to foster economic growth.

The Kaine-Obama way is about big government. It’s about taking from others their “life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness.” It’s the notion that elites know better what to do for the economy than the individual taxpayer. It’s an uncompromising, aloof, and lazy approach to governing.

Tim Kaine presided over budget deficits that were on track to get worse and worse. Barack Obama can’t even get a budget passed – and our national debt is accelerating at a break-neck pace.

It’s hard to believe that it has been more than three years since our federal government has passed a budget – yet we continue to slip deeper in debt. Yet, when faced with similar circumstances, in three years, our commonwealth is on sound financial footing due to hard work and tough decisions.

For the sake of our future, we need the Virginia way in DC.

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