Governor Regressive Tax

The biggest difference between Governor Mark Warner and Governor Tim Kaine is on taxation issues.

First of all, Mark Warner vetoed the repeal of the estate tax, Virginia's most progressive tax.  Tim Kaine campaigned on repealing it, and then signed the repeal into law.  Now he is whining about revenue shortfalls in transportation.  Um...

One of the key aspects of the original Warner tax plan in 2004 (and he admits that not enough of his plan was passed) was the tax REFORM aspect of it, instead of just the increased revenues.  Besides keeping the estate tax, Warner's plan focused on creating a new income tax bracket for Virginia's most wealthy- while giving a tax cut to 2/3 of Virginia families.

So the Republicans gave Warner his revenue but not his tax reform.  Sad.

But what the heck is Tim Kaine doing making the situation so much worse?   His solution in the upcoming transportation session is a sales tax increase- the most regressive tax possible.  This is to make up for revenue we lost when he signed the repeal of the estate tax- the most progressive tax.

For a former missionary it is especially shocking that Kaine may leave office with one of the most pathetic legacies in recent Virginia history for the working poor.

Comments

Bingo. How do you make million dollar inheritances tax free, and then raise taxes on everyone else? And this is a Democratic idea?

[Ghost of Alexander Hamilton]

Ben, you also forget that the 2004 plan also cut the state sales tax on food and adopted needs based model for the senior tax deduction.

[charlie]

Between this tax issue, the botched transportation plan, and the driver users fees, is it safe to say that Tim Kaine is an idiot?

I'm actually now hoping Obama nominates his to be VP -- the only way to get rid of him.

Ben,

Tim Kaine is trying to deliver on the "drug deal" he personally made to US DOT for their recent and unexpected pre-sign off of the Dulles rail plan.

This tax increase plan is all about that deal. Another failure from Wapost in going the distance to inform its readers.

Can anyone explain why Tim Kaine's approval rating is so high?

[Bubby]

I had a sow once. Meanest free-range pig you ever saw. Hated all the other pigs too. Would only come in at night for some sweet corn feed (and meat scraps). So I fed her till she was nearly 700 lbs and could barely move. Easy to catch, we took her to market - and let the slaughterhouse deal with her, profiting nicely from all that mean, and stupid, and glad to be rid of it.

I suspect the Governor is working the same tack with the House of Delegates.

[Dan]

Any chance this critcism is shaded a bit by the fact that Kaine was an early endorser and vigorous supporter of Barack Obama?

[sullyesq]

Anon at 11:14, million dollar inheritances were already tax free. So were $2 million inheritances. The estate tax repeal eliminated the estate tax on estates larger than that.

Youngsters and losers, who never made anything for themselves or their families, screaming to tax the people who have made something out of their lives and wish to pass it on to their posterity.

Let's see...
"freedom to make something for themself and their posterity"
or
"tax people to death and then tax them after"..

Which sounds more American?

add Brian Moran to your target list Ben:
http://epilot2.hamptonroads.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=VmlyZ2luaWFuUGlsb3QvMjAwOC8wNS8xMSNBcjAzMTAw&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom

He wants a sales tax too.

[Sean Holihan]

Nice try. In the article, Moran calls for a 1 cent sales tax increase with food and prescription drugs being exempted.

[Not An Anonymous Conservative Concern Troll]

No post on the Rasmussen poll Ben?

VA Senate:

M. Warner 55%

Gilmore 37%

VA President:

McCain 47%

Obama 44%

Are you kidding me!? Every state gets its transportation fundings from gas taxes and sales taxes. This is just so liberal its off in the deep end (and I ALWAYS vote Democratic).

[Yoohoo]

I think Bubby is "intimately" familiar with pigs.

So Ben, what do you think of those wealthy "progressives" who like to keep inheritance taxes while sheltering their own assets through foundations. Like, you know, Ted Kennedy and Mark Warner?

While we are talking abhout transportation, maybe you should tell us all how you get to "work" (and in your case, I use that term loosely).

[Not Larry Sabato]

Sure.

I have used multiple ways of commuting from Burke to Rosslyn.

First is driving to Franconia-Springfield Metro (20 mins) getting on a train (5-10 minutes) and riding it from there to Rosslyn (30 mins).

Second is slugging from the Park and Ride on Old Keene Mill Road. That's a 5 minute drive, a 5-10 minute wait for a ride and a 30 minute ride to Rosslyn. However, that limits my rides home, since the last buses at night leave Springfield or Pentagon about 7 pm to go to the Park and Ride there, so I can't work late doing that.

Third option is VRE from Burke Centre. A 5 minute ride to the parking lot, 5 minutes to the train and 30 minutes to Crystal City (although VRE has a lot of delays), walking through the Crystal City underground to the Metro (10 minute walk) and another 10 minute ride from Crystal City to Rosslyn. Again, this also limits options coming home to the last train.

Fourth, I can drive the sluggers. That is the same amount of time listed above in the second option, but that requires parking for $12 in Rosslyn plus gas. But then my time coming home is flexible.

Finally, I can get bus from walking distance from where I live to the Pentagon. That's a 45 minute ride and then 5 minutes for a train, with another 5 minutes on Metro to Rosslyn. That limits the time I can come home also, but it is probably the greenest commute of those options and the 2nd cheapest besides catching a ride on the slug line.

I did not read the part that said the tax was only on the "working poor".

I did see that it did not include food or drugs.

I would vote "no" on any tax increase, until they prove able to spend what they get correctly.

yoohoo,
democrats only want taxes to be taken from "other" people. Just like they only want "green" solutions that effect others (ie no windmills in the kennedy compound view, private jets for all the dem vip's, houses big enough for the population of small countries for those poor movie stars...)

there is a word for that type of thinking

I try to tell my kid to work hard, get a good education, get a good job and make something of himself. I tell him to buy a house, make sure he has insurance and take care of his family now and prepare them for the future.

The liberals tell him to spend all his money on material junk, don't worry about working or his future because we can take it from someone else and give it to him.

Nobody has explained what will happen when the "someone else's" are all gone.

[brimur]

Good post Ben. Is a sales tax increase really what we worked so hard to get Democrats elected for? We need lower taxes for working families, not higher. Transportation's important - so why not create a 6.5% income tax bracket for incomes over 200K? Or otherwise create a prebate for families making less than 300% of poverty for the sales tax.

[Yoohoo]

And Ben,

Any time you want to address the issue of people like Mark Warner and Ted Kennedy sheltering their wealth from the estate taxes they want to impose on others, go ahead.

You also didn't tell us what kind of car you use, and its fuel economy.

Brimur, Here's a radical idea -- how about government use the money it taxes from us more efficiently? Do you just like to reward unaccountability?

[Church Hill Dem]

FYI, Kaine's sales tax hike does exclude food and drugs. Does that make it any less regressive?

The biggest problem isn't the regressivity or progressivity of this tax proposal, but instead the lack of a clear nexus. There's no "user pays" notion with a sales tax. Instead, one who shops in a walkable area who walks from one store to the next accruing items pays must as much as the suburban shopper who drives from one store to the next despite that suburban shopper's creation of additional demand on infrastructure.

That's the foolishness with this plan.

That the Dems and Kaine have gotten on their knees to a gang that's in the minority in the House Republican Caucus is the only part that's pitiful.

C'mon Dems-- get some gumption!

[brimur]

Yoohoo- I'm all for that being a part of the solution. Where do you think we could cut? I, however, think our transportation system is such a wreck it's probably not going to be solved only by better management of the funds we currently have.

If you think we can fix the problems without raising anny taxes, that would be great. But if we have to raise taxes let's not raise them on the people who hurting the most right now.

[brimur]

Churchill- short of enacting radical-scale toll roads, most "user pays" plans are just an illusion. There's no realistic way to measure use when it comes to something as compelx as our transportation infrastructure, so increasing fees on various things from car registration to "abusive driving" is simply a sham tactic for the legislature to pretend they've enacted a user fee. The best revenue plan is the fairest revenue plan- one that asks for an equal sacrifice.

[Church Hill Dem]

Brimur,

Heard of the gas tax?

Lots of Kisses,

Church Hill Dem

[Not An Anonymous Conservative Concern Troll]

Who on here is worth more than $2 million?

Calling it the "death tax" is the biggest right wing lie every put over on the American people by using dishonest language.

Thanks, Frank Luntz.