Chicken and Egg?
The Virginia budget conferees are stuck before they begin. House members what to talk taxes first, saying you can’t decide on spending ‘til you know what you have to spend. Senate members say let’s decide what we want and need and then figure how much we need to raise.
The House uses the old argument about how government must live within its means, just like American families do. But it’s a poor analogy. Families, unlike governments, are usually trying to maximize their revenues. It’s the quest for a better life that determines their decisions. Most people are always looking for jobs with higher pay. It’s the nature of a career path. If not, or until they find the better job, they decide whether to live within their means or borrow. Basically, families make a fundamental decision about what life style they want and how much they’re willing to work and sacrifice to achieve it.
The same should be true for government. What do we want and how much are we willing to pay for it? How much revenue we have is arbitrary. We can raise taxes through the roof, if we want something bad enough or perceive a critical need. What we want should be the starting point. If what we want costs too much, we scale it back.
The Senators have the right approach.
Howell Changes His Mind – Again
I recommend Bill Howell as John Kerry’s running mate. The two of them are becoming infamous for changing their minds. The Virginia Speaker of the House has said throughout the General Assembly session that gas taxes – he called them “user fees” – were a possible solution to the revenue shortfall. But now that gas prices are rising, he says he’s undergone a “real conversion” and gas tax hikes are off the table.
Must Virginia’s Government Shut Down Without a Budget?
Jeff Schapiro of the Richmond Times-Dispatch says there may be a way around doomsday.
Gilmore Prevaricates
When Gov. Mark Warner is criticized for raising taxes after saying he wouldn’t during the campaign, he points out that he was told by former Gov. Jim Gilmore that the deficit was only a few hundred million when it actually was $3.8 billion. Gilmore can’t square his record with reality. Warren Fiske of the Virginian Pilot writes:
Gilmore, however, has a hard time proving Warner was fully aware of the state’s financial problems in October 2001, when Warner pledged not to raise taxes.
Newspaper clippings from that month say Gilmore’s advisers repeatedly declined to make any estimate of revenue shortfalls during a meeting with General Assembly budget writers.
When pressed, Gilmore says he didn’t have good numbers until that December – after the election. By then, the shortfall was estimated at $3.8 billion.What about Gilmore’s own campaign error?
In 1997, he was elected on a pledge to end the car tax, telling voters it would cost $620 million a year. The full cost of the repeal is now estimated at $1.5 billion and has been a major drain on the budget.
“We used the best numbers that were available to an outsider,” he says. “But it doesn’t matter. Ending the car tax is still the right thing to do. It’s a great program. It helps people, and people thank me for it every day.”
Didn’t have “good numbers” or the “best numbers”? How about “lied.” It’s getting to be a GOP habit. Just weeks after the Medicare bill passed, President Bush said it would cost a third more than he led on during the Congressional debate on the bill. He didn’t have good numbers, either, i.e., he lied.
Anti-tax Movement Dead?
Fred Hiatt in The Washington Post wonders if the “no-tax hike ever” movement may be on its last legs or if honesty about taxes is forever lost on the campaign trail.
Is It the Macarena?
Barnie Day’s column is entitled “Anatomy of a Miscue: Doing the Budget Dance”
Virginia’s Right Wing College Gets Attention
The New York Times today has a story today on the Virginia college with only “six red brick buildings” but with a growing influence on U.S. politics. Think of it as the American equivalent of the fundamentalist schools of Islam.
Tobacco Break May Die
A Staunton News Leader editorial applauds House leaders for scuttling the Senate’s bill for a big tax break for Phillip Morris. But the bill may not be dead yet.