That’s Peter Ferrara’s contention in this American Spectator piece. One of the less purple-prosed sections reads like this:
In his convention acceptance speech, Cuccinelli sounded the same themes as Reagan did. He emphasized as top priorities, “A stronger middle class, fueled by better paying jobs, more opportunity, and a more competitive economic environment that encourages our businesses to invest and grow,” and “A stronger economy that can produce new jobs for the thousands who are currently out of work,” and “The first step in fighting for the people of Virginia is to grow our economy, create new jobs, and protect the ones we already have.”
This is the same theme Virginia gubernatorial candidates of both political parties have been sounding for decades, and will very likely do so for many decades to come.
But picking through Peter’s prose does unearth the one, real area where Cuccinelli touches on Reagan-like themes:
Cuccinelli has already proposed, as the first initiative of his campaign, the most advanced, sweeping, state tax reform plan in the nation. He proposes to cut the state individual income tax rate by 13% during his term as Governor, from 5.75% to 5%, and to index personal exemptions and deductions for inflation, so that inflation would no longer effectively impose a tax increase on working people. He also proposes to cut the state corporate income tax rate by one third, from 6% to 4%.
What makes the plan truly revolutionary is that, besides closing special interest, crony capitalist loopholes, the pro-growth rate cuts in the plan are financed by a cap on the growth of state spending, rather than by adopting or increasing another tax. That cap would be equal to the rate of growth of population plus inflation, which has been 3.3% in Virginia over the past decade.
That means the plan is not intended to be revenue neutral, but a net cut in state taxes and spending from what they would be otherwise. But under the plan, it is important to emphasize, state spending would continue to grow every year, by 3.3% on average. That is a very reasonable, moderate, state spending limit, which can and should be kept in place indefinitely, to keep government from growing too big too fast, and imposing unnecessary tax and economic burdens on working people. Under that limit, state spending would continue to grow every year sufficiently to maintain the same level of spending in real dollars after inflation for every Virginian.
The tax reforms are sweeping, which is why they will take flack from all sides. But the kicker is the spending cap. It’s a version of TABOR, minus the label and the provision to return state surpluses to taxpayers. The last step would be revolutionary, indeed, considering Virginia’s resident political class has a habit of spending any surpluses almost immediately.
Peter goes on to say that, by his calculations, Cuccinelli’s proposal would allow “…the entire state income tax, including personal and corporate, and capital gains, [to] be phased out entirely within 10 years.” Perhaps. But the mere idea of a modest spending cap has, in the past, sent Virginia’s spenders into a tizzy. The idea of limits, or, heaven forbid, tax refunds, is unconscionable. Tax increases and more spending, however, are acts of courage and leadership.
Cuccinelli’s tax and cap ideas haven’t yet received the attention they are owed (aside from the occasional cherry-picking). Viewed in their totality, his ideas represent a fundamental change in state government operations. They deserve more discussion — and it’s in the Cuccinelli campaign’s interest to talk more about these ideas and what they mean, and a lot less about Terry McAuliffe’s tax returns.
