Our taxes are going up
As I expected, the General Assembly chose not to listen to me, and passed the transportation tax hike, with the Governor’s proposed changes. The Democrats followed Kaine in near lockstep to ram this through, making both votes lopsided. I am happy to say that all of the Delegates supported by yours truly (see the column to the right) stuck to their guns and voted against it - including Jeff Frederick (which means Ben T. will need to find another reason to rip him).
As I have said over and over again, this is bad for Virginia, and especially bad for northern Virginia and Hampton Roads. It will now be a lot harder to get the Republican base energized for November (while I don’t think the Democratic base will be that charged up either, I could be wrong). The best way to ensure the party elders get the message that these tax increase are not acceptable to remove as many of these folks as possible in primaries. Conversely, if you find your delegate (or candidate) is on my little list to the right, keep in mind that they opposed the tax increases every time, including the 2004 and would-be 2006 tax hikes. So please, make every effort to keep those Delegates in Richmond, and send those Senate candidates there to help them.
April 5, 2007 at 2:39 pm
It will be interesting to see how many Conservatives are bled from the base - and don’t support the Republicans in NoVa that this vote was supposed to save.
It sets the stage, depending on the candidates, for more bleeding in the 08 election.
Obviously, most Republican politicians can’t be trusted as Conservatives. So, why should Conservatives come out and vote for them - this November or next?
Time to clean House - both of them - in the General Assembly.
January 14, 2008 at 9:05 am
[...] the sharpest tacks in Southwest Virginia. That’s why his recent post on HB3202 (a.k.a. the transportation tax hike of 2007) is so maddeningly disappointing (expect for his proposed solution, more on that [...]
January 15, 2008 at 3:01 pm
[...] on giving One of the more insidious notions about the regional authorities spawned by the transportation tax hike of 2007 was that the members would all be locally elected officials. That was the veneer of [...]
January 27, 2008 at 1:11 am
[...] Kaine. Kaine beat Kilgore by 6 points. Two years later, the sam defensive mentality led to the transportation tax hike of 2007 and the loss of our State Senate [...]
February 29, 2008 at 11:59 am
[...] The Virginia Supreme Court has invalidated the most egregious piece of HB3202 - the regional taxes that were unconstitutionally imposed by the Northern Virginia Transportation [...]
March 3, 2008 at 10:31 am
[...] Election 2007 actually revealed it in the most stark manner. Eastern VA saw a GOP meltdown (lose 4 Senate seats, lose 3 net House seats), while western Virginia was more ho-hum (no net change in either chamber). However, even that paled in comparison to the reaction to today’s Supreme Court ruling invalidating the regional taxes in HB3202. [...]
June 8, 2008 at 12:16 pm
[...] et al (RTD included, if memory serves) foisted upon the populace the disastrous HB3202 (i.e., the transportation tax hike of 2007). After the egregious policy became law, most of the GOP elite (and the RTD) when back to sleep, [...]
June 10, 2008 at 11:22 am
[...] been willing to stick his neck out for tax increases (he backed both the tax referenda of 2002 and the hideous HB3202 last year). So Gilmore certainly has a precedent for speaking out. Moreover, given that Bob [...]
June 11, 2008 at 11:26 am
[...] dear reader, back to last year, when the Virginia GOP signed away its State Senate majority with HB3202. At that time, the Richmond Republicans were under tremendous pressure to “do something [...]
June 11, 2008 at 11:53 am
[...] any indication, the General Assembly Republicans have decided the revive the pre-Kaine version of HB3202 (for those who think it was Tim Kaine who made that bill bad, here’s the real [...]
June 11, 2008 at 12:04 pm
[...] any indication, the General Assembly Republicans have decided the revive the pre-Kaine version of HB3202 (for those who think it was Tim Kaine who made that bill bad, here’s the real [...]
June 13, 2008 at 11:09 am
[...] accountability, and democracy is considered a bit overwrought (except in Virginia, what with HB3202 and all), but it is a nightmarish reality in Europe (a.k.a. the Brusselian Empire, a.k.a. [...]