Del. Jeff Frederick (R-Woodbridge) has never struck me as the brightest bulb on the tree so the irony of his reasoning for House Bill 1536 probably never dawned on him. The bill would remove the cap on the car tax that was passed last year.
The cap, Frederick told the [Augusta Free Press], was put in place to prevent revenue triggers included in the original tax-relief legislation that dates to former governor Jim Gilmore’s 1997 gubernatorial campaign from taking the reimbursement from the 70 percent level that it has been stuck at since 2001 all the way to 100 percent.
“I’m calling this like it is. A supermajority of the General Assembly, and the governor, all campaigned on the promise of finishing what was started on the car tax,” Frederick said.
“The cap that is in place now will send us in the other direction. Estimates have it going from 70 percent last year to 63 percent in the current year to 56 percent and on down. Effectively, the car tax, which Virginians voted to have removed eight years ago, is going to go up again,” Frederick said.
“What this does is pass the buck to local governments to come up with other means to raise the revenues that they need to balance their budgets,” Frederick said.
Passing the buck to local governments is what tax-cutters like Frederick do when they slash state support for schools, transportation and a host of other services. It’s no secret that officials in areas with escalating home assessments are taking the heat for increasing local real estate tax bills because local governments have to make up the difference between sometimes what is required by higher levels of government (SOLs and No Child Left Behind requirements) but without appropriate funding.
By the way, another recent example of an “unfunded mandate” is the security costs for Bush’s inaugural.