{"id":181,"date":"2009-09-25T12:28:46","date_gmt":"2009-09-25T16:28:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/000af36.netsolhost.com\/wordpress1\/2009\/09\/25\/tax-question-in-09-races\/"},"modified":"2009-09-25T12:28:46","modified_gmt":"2009-09-25T16:28:46","slug":"tax-question-in-09-races","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/2009\/09\/25\/tax-question-in-09-races\/","title":{"rendered":"Tax Question in ‘09 Races"},"content":{"rendered":"

I wrote the other day<\/a> that I thought the \u201cAre you an Obama Democrat?\u201d by David Gregory was a dumb one, and I still do.  But Bob Holsworth over at Virginia Tomorrow makes a good point<\/a>: Now that Creigh Deeds has said he would consider tax increases to pay for transportation improvements, every Democrat running for the Assembly will have to answer the question, \u201cAre you a Creigh Deeds Democrat?\u201d as a surrogate for the real question, are you willing to consider tax increases?  <\/p>\n

It will be instructive to see how they answer it.  If you expect a column of courageous men and women saying yes to that question, you may be disappointed.  After all these are Democrats we\u2019re talking about.  I\u2019d love to hear what House Minority Leader Ward Armstrong is telling his troops.<\/p>\n

To modify the answer I suggested for Deeds, here\u2019s what the Assembly candidates should say:<\/p>\n

\u201cNo governor can raise taxes without the consent of the governed.  And as a [delegate\/senator] I certainly can\u2019t raise taxes on my own.  But I think Gov. Mark Warner had the right model for discussing problems we face.  He saw a need, went across the Commonwealth to discuss that need with Virginians.  They saw the need.  They understood his reasons.  And they backed him.  But even then, he couldn\u2019t raise taxes until the General Assembly agreed with him.  Whatever Creigh Deeds proposes, we will debate it, and if the majority of both houses agrees we need new money, we will pass a bill.  When I\u2019m elected, I will study our options, see how the economy is doing next year, discuss it with my constituents to see if, together, we can come up with a plan that move us forward on an issue that concerns citizens greatly.\u201d  I can\u2019t say I will raise taxes until I see what\u2019s proposed.  But what I can say is that no solution that moves our community forward should be dismissed without proper debate.<\/p>\n

 <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I wrote the other day that I thought the \u201cAre you an Obama Democrat?\u201d by David Gregory was a dumb one, and I still do.  But Bob Holsworth over at Virginia Tomorrow makes a good point: Now that Creigh Deeds has said he would consider tax increases to pay for transportation improvements, every Democrat running… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[93,15,25],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}