Bacon's Rebellion

Bloggers, Do Your Duty – Scrutinize Kaine’s Record on Taxes (and Kilgore’s Charges)

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by

James A. Bacon
in

Bloggers, The greatest power of the blogging community is to subject the claims of politicians and the press to close scrutiny. We now have an excellent example before us.

The Kilgore campaign has attacked Tim Kaine for his record on tax increases while mayor of Richmond. According to the Kilgore crew, Kaine claimed in Roanoke today that he cut taxes for the city of Richmond — but, in fact, he raised them. In a report released today, the Kilgore campaign argues that while city council may have cut property tax rates, rising assessments meant that tax bills actually rose. It’s a legitimate point if true… in context… and doesn’t leave out pertinent exculpatory material.

The blogging community needs to analyze and either verify or reject charges like these. If the Kilgore campaign has a legitimate point, we can help validate it. If campaign researchers are playing fast and loose with the facts, we should hurl the charges back at them. I have read the the document, “Tim Kaine – Day of Deception” and found it — once you cut through the high-pitched rhetoric — to be a reasonable recitation of facts. But will it withstand the examination of the bloggers?

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  1. Paul Avatar
    Paul

    Yeah I guess cutting rates isn’t really a tax cut if it doesn’t cut payments.

    Then again – when you start defining tax cuts like this, you run into danger. For example, did Bush’s tax cuts really cut income taxes more than income increased over the the last few years? And, if the cuts failed to outpace TAXES PAID, doesn’t that make them technically tax increases?

    It’s all a stupid semantic game.

  2. Paul Avatar
    Paul

    Whoops –

    What I meant, was did Bush’s tax cuts decrease government revenue? Or did increased income outpace the cuts? It probably didn’t, but what if it did? Wouldn’t that be the same?

  3. Salt Lick Avatar
    Salt Lick

    Good Golly! I can barely balance my checkbook. Oh, all right, I’ll try.

    Still, I’d rather talk about how the Virginia Democrats’ privileged “Golden Boys” may have cut themselves off from their base:

    http://tsuredzuregusa.blogspot.com/2005/03/drawing-lines-in-virginia-state.html

  4. Cold Harbor Avatar
    Cold Harbor

    Keep in mind, folks, that elected officials who want to address property tax issues have to attack the rates. Property values are (happily) driven by events that they do not control. If government is run properly, sound tax policy decisions can have the paradoxical impact of increasing incomes and wealth (in the form of property values). I’ve noted before in this fine blog that Bush’s tax cuts coincide with a fairly substantial increase in my federal taxes and at some level of analysis, there is a causal link. But it would be a bit looney for me to start railing against Bush for raising my taxes. That kind of logic is abroad in the Commonwealth, however. Very few of these statewide guys have any record of achievement on the tax front. If they have consistently in their public service forced tax rates down, that’s a pretty high level of play in this not very inspiring league. It’s not the end of the story by any means, but it’s not nothing. The real test is whether anyone wants to advocate higher income taxes and contributions from the state to localities as a way to protect homeowners against the assessment increases. I’m not advocating it, but we ought to look at whether we’ve outlived the utility of a substantial ad valorem tax structure for matters as improtant as schools.

  5. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    It is misleading to say that cutting the property tax rate is not cutting taxes. First, we comdemn government when property prices fall, why not praise their policies when the prices rise? Second, inevitably with this system, as property prices rise at different rates, some people will pay more than others, even with a rate cut. It is impossible to reassess property, as required by state law, in a revenue-neutral manner. Therefore, by your argument, it is always a tax hike when property values rise.

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