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The
[Virginia] Republican Party has already lost the
battle when the only issue left to decide is which
group of Republicans will increase your taxes the
most. –Well known Republican Party Activist
You
know things are getting out of control when
liberal tax-and-spend Democrat candidates have
began attacking Republicans for going back on
their word when they signed a pledge not to raise
taxes. Unfortunately, they’re right!
As
in 2002 and
2004, Virginia Republicans have again fallen prey
to the siren-like song of the liberal RINOs whose
solution for every problem is to increase state
revenues and provide for bigger cradle-to-grave
government. This time around, they used a new
scare tactic: If the GOP majorities in the House
and Senate did not address our transportation
gridlock, the voters would retaliate by voting
them out of office this November. (See “Grown-Up
Follies,” Bacon’s Rebellion,
1/8/07)
Accordingly,
a well meaning but fundamentally inept House
Republican-caucus leadership has again been talked
into raising taxes, imposing new draconian civil
penalties and fees, and overall increasing the
size of government. The devil is in the details,
and the more one looks at the details the more
there is to dislike.
So
far House Republicans have managed to confuse the
issue and claim that the compromise bill pushed by
House Speaker William J. Howell, R-Stafford, is a
viable solution that will get us moving again.
Howell’s bill (HB 3202) is comprised of several
different transportation-related bills rolled into
one massive bill; it calls for new taxes, huge and
retroactive traffic penalties, and bigger
government in the form of regional authorities.
Even
some fervent anti-tax activists have been
snookered into thinking that passing the Howell
compromise is essential if the GOP is to retain
its majorities in the House and Senate. For that
reason, they are willing to cut some slack to
those Republicans who voted for Howell’s bill,
even though the bill calls for increased taxes and
fees.
These
activists may be willing to look the other way in
this instance, but what they do not realize is
that by indirectly condoning tax increases they
are encouraging elected officials to go back on
their principles. And going back on principles is
always going to be used against a candidate as
some Democrats are already capitalizing on —
never mind that this is like the pot calling the
kettle black.
There
is no such thing as being a little pregnant —
you cannot be for some taxes when you have signed
a tax pledge not to raise taxes. These same
Republicans took another step down this slippery
slope when they voted for the budget last year —
a budget that grew government by new leaps and
bounds.
So
far what has given cover to the Republican
leadership in the House is the fact that whatever
bill originates from or is amended in the State Senate
is immensely worse than the House version. For
that reason, the outcry has focused on Senate
Finance Chairman John Chichester, R-Northumberland,
and some of his allies.
The
Senate appears determined to vote down any bill
proposing to spend part of the General Fund
surplus on transportation, even though the budget
approved last year called for an unprecedented 20
percent increase in new spending. But the RINOS
and the Democrats are dead set against using any
of the surplus on what they tell us is a state
priority — transportation.
While
the focus has now turned on the actions of the
House and Senate conferees, most pundits have
missed some of critical proposals called for in
the House compromise bill. For example consider
the following:
There
are many, many more fees and taxes proposed under
the House compromise bill — too many to list in
this column. Just about everyone will get affected
by these proposals in some way. And that is one of
the problems because some of those affected have
nothing to do with contributing to our
transportation gridlock.
Even
more insidious is the resurrection of regional
transportation authorities called for Northern
Virginia and Hampton Roads. Regional authorities
are additional government layers which are
unaccountable and unelected.
The
Republican Party of Virginia calls for limited
government in its creed. To now propose funding
regional authorities is a slap in the face of
every conservative grassroots activist who worked
to give the GOP its legislative majorities.
And
let us not forget that the voters spoke out
against regional authorities in 2002, when they
voted down the sales tax referendum that was to
have funded these beasts. But our state
legislators have been routinely disregarding the
will of the electorate in recent years. By
bundling several bills into one, Speaker Howell
has done our Commonwealth a great disservice as a
number of ill designed and badly thought of
proposals have been lost in the bill’s details.
Voting for this bill has pushed the Republican
Party another couple of notches down the slippery
path of raising taxes and building a bigger
government.
If
the GOP looses its majority in the elections this
fall, it should blame no one but itself.
Politicians who go back on their word do not
deserve re-election.
--
February 20, 2007
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