Kaine seeks tax increases for roads
The Richmond Times-Dispatch
Gov. Timothy M. Kaine at this hour is rolling out yet another tax-fattened plan to repair Virginia’s cash-starved transportation system.
At a news conference at the Patrick Henry Building, Kaine is outlining his proposal to generate more than $1 billion a year for roads and rail by mid-2011.
Kaine readies road tax details
The Washington Times
Mr. Kaine, a Democrat, wants regional funding plans to pay for new projects in Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia, the state’s most populous, fastest-growing and traffic-choked regions.
A notion rejected soundly by the regions’ voters when Kaine was Lt. Governor.
Reactions around the blogosphere:
Kaine: Raise sales tax, grantor’s tax, car taxes
Brian Kirwin at Bearing Drift
Leave it to a liberal to push a house tax in the middle of a housing crisis and push regional sales taxes that lost two referendums by a 2 to 1 margin. But that’s Gov. Tim Kaine’s plan. And guess what? The “house tax” won’t even go for roads.
So, Tim Kaine who ran on “no tax increases until we protect the no-Trust fund” and who ran against “regional tax plans” proposes both, with the absolutely laughable thought that we should raise the “house tax” during a housing crisis to pay for buses.
Tim Kaine’s transportation plan gets leaked - and it stinks
The right-wing liberal
Next up is the regional sales tax. Lest anyone forget (and Kaine shouldn’t - he was Lieutenant Governor at the time), the people of these regions had the option of raising this tax on themselves in a 2002 referendum. As one can see here, the voters in Northern Virginia rejected it by nearly 10 points, and in Hampton Roads, the margin of defeat for the tax hike was more than 20 points. Six years later, the Governor is basically telling these voters to drop dead.
Attorney General Bob McDonnell on Kaine’s stink bomb
Scott’s Morning Brew
The AG says: The Governor did not make his transportation plan available to Republicans until today so I am still reviewing the details. However, it is disappointing that the Governor’s third transportation plan since taking office is basically the same as his first two. Through all the conversations, negotiations, and debate of the past several years, the Governor has continued to rely on his belief in higher taxes with increased spending, going to the same government bureaucracies that have not delivered transportation services efficiently.
Also at Scott’s Morning Brew: “Don’t pick on me” Says Timmy Kaine
Apparently Governor Tim Kaine even knows how preposterous his plan to raise taxes is. He’s even asked members of his own party to not pick on him…
Clucking for Transportation Taxes
Virginia Virtucon
Well, I would like to invite any and all readers of this blog to take a few minutes and put in a call to the folks over at the GAB in charge of the budget. They will tell you exactly what they told me: the so-called shortfall in transportation funding is only a real and true shortfall if you take 2007’s slumping economy and tax revenue and estimate it to be the same for every year over the next 6 years.
Also at Virginia Virtucon: LG Bolling Speaks Out On Timmy!’s Transportation Plan
The LG says: While there is never a good time to raise taxes, I am also concerned by the fact that the Governor and Democrats in the General Assembly want to raise taxes by over one billion dollars at a time when economic growth is slowing, fuel and food costs are skyrocketing, and working Virginians are having a harder time making ends meet. Increasing taxes now will unnecessarily hurt the economy and kill needed jobs. In addition, Governor Kaine’s tax increase plan is regressive and will hurt those least able to pay the most, including senior citizens on a fixed income and young families.
Dems to Clinton: Don’t Say Anything to Hurt Us
Seed Newsvine
Entries (RSS)