{"id":241,"date":"2009-06-19T15:30:37","date_gmt":"2009-06-19T19:30:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/000af36.netsolhost.com\/wordpress1\/2009\/06\/19\/never-take-an-anti-tax-pledge-but-never-increase-taxes\/"},"modified":"2009-06-19T15:30:37","modified_gmt":"2009-06-19T19:30:37","slug":"never-take-an-anti-tax-pledge-but-never-increase-taxes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/2009\/06\/19\/never-take-an-anti-tax-pledge-but-never-increase-taxes\/","title":{"rendered":"“Never take an anti-tax pledge, but never increase taxes…"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2026and don\u2019t vote for anyone who has.\u201d<\/font><\/strong><\/p>\n

That seems to be the message of Wyatt Durrette over at Virginia Tomorrow<\/a>.  He may be doing nothing more than giving cover to Bob McDonnell, who has recently said he won\u2019t take an anti-tax pledge<\/a>.<\/p>\n

McDonnell has been tacking left so fast he\u2019s likely to tip his boat over any day.  Others may be impressed<\/a>, but this seems just another ploy by McDonnell to mask his true positions and intentions.<\/p>\n

Durrette has a confusing post saying pledges are a bad idea.  But\u2026<\/p>\n

\n

The simple fact is that transportation needs must be met.  Maybe it can be done without a tax increase at the state level.  I hope so.  And there are options.<\/p>\n

\u2026Clearly taxes should not be raised now or in the near term due to the cratered economy.  In fact, some taxes might be reduced to spur job creation.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Gee, does anyone remember anyone in the Repugnant Party (save a few state senators who were nearly run out of the party) voting for a tax increase back a few years ago when we were flush?   With the GOP, there is a never a good time to raise taxes.<\/p>\n

But pledges are a bad idea, Durrette says.  Instead voters should look at a candidate\u2019s record.<\/p>\n

\n

A record of supporting tax increases is one signal.  One of opposition is another.  Voters need to make judgments on records, not on promises made under circumstances where the unpredictability of the future may require a reversal.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I guess I\u2019m old fashioned.  I want candidates to tell me what vision they have for the county, state or country.  What programs do they want to initiate, expand, contract or cut?  If necessary, what taxes will they raise and which ones might they cut to fulfill their vision?  Leading with a commitment to raise or cut taxes is bassackwards.<\/p>\n

That may be what Durrette is saying, but as I wrote in the comments section of his post, given his inferences, \u201cIt seems all you are doing here is saying that a candidate should never promise not to raise taxes, but elected officials should never raise them nonetheless. And voters should never vote for one who has.\u201d<\/p>\n

Got that?  It\u2019s precisely what McDonnell is trying to say.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2026and don\u2019t vote for anyone who has.\u201d That seems to be the message of Wyatt Durrette over at Virginia Tomorrow.  He may be doing nothing more than giving cover to Bob McDonnell, who has recently said he won\u2019t take an anti-tax pledge. McDonnell has been tacking left so fast he\u2019s likely to tip his boat… 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":[37,12,15,95],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241"}],"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=241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}