A number of bloggers on Bacon’s Rebellion have wondered why Gov. Timothy M. Kaine devoted so much time to holding public hearings about transportation around the state. Transportation has been hashed out in innumerable studies and hearings already. Kaine had heard a belly full of talk about transportation on the campaign trail, and he’d posted detailed and well-crafted commentary about the topic on his campaign website.
Did Kaine really expect to learn anything new in the public hearings? Or was the tour really a smoke screen — designed to provide cover for the $1 billion tax increase proposal that he dropped on the General Assembly last week?
In his campaign essay, “Moving Virginia Forward, Reducing Traffic,” Kaine talks about “locking up the Transportation Trust Fund.” He talks about increasing efficiency at VDOT. He talks about using General Fund surpluses to finance transportation projects. He talks about attracting private investment for toll-financed projects like HOT lanes.
But he never, repeat never, talks about increasing the sales tax on automobiles as a way to raise more money. Indeed, he implies that new tax revenues are not necessary.
There are ways to provide additional support for transportation without raising taxes and without putting transportation projects in competition with schools and other general fund priorities.
Tim Kaine never uttered a memorable line like, “Read my lips, I won’t increase your taxes.” He never swore in front of TV news cameras, like his predecessor did, that he would never, never, never raise taxes. S0, I suppose one could argue that his $1 billion proposal doesn’t represent the world’s fastest breaking of faith with the voters.
But I am inclined to disagree. Consider the quote above: “There are ways to provide additional support for transportation without raising taxes.” Consider that Kaine repeatedly said that “you can’t pave your way out of traffic congestion.” Consider the fact that the $1 billion tax-hike package was never part of his campaign platform. Overall, he created the impression — at least with me — that a tax increase was not in the cards.
The cynical interpretation of Kaine’s action is that he hid his intention from the voters simply to get elected. The charitable interpretation is that he was so blown away by the findings of his transportation hearings that he changed his mind and decided that a tax increase was justified after all. Yeah, right.
Which gets us back to those hearings. Why did he hold them in the first place? Did he really need to be told, again, that the transportation crisis is urgent? Did he really need to hear, again, that people don’t like sitting in traffic congestion? My suspicion is that he needed something to justify the tax increases that he’d planned all along. But it’s only a suspicion. I would welcome any evidence that my ellow bloggers could present either pro and con.
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