Bacon's Rebellion

Kaine’s tax solutions are lame but Kilgore’s are worse.

First: Kilgore and Shear in today’s The Washington Post say:
“If local governments want more money, he said, their leaders should be forced to openly increase tax rates, not rely on rising assessments to fuel what he called “backdoor” tax increases.”

Barnie send Kilgore, his staff and Mike Shear a copy of that law you cited in response to our question. Kilgore is a lawyer and was the Attorney General?

It gets worse: “No Virginian should be forced out of his or her home because of runaway property assessments.,” Kilgore said. “My plan is an honest (sic) plan that attacks the real problem: skyrocketing property tax assessments that result in higher reals estate taxes paid by you.”

Those who trust the market should really be upset with a proposed constitutional amendment that gets government into the business of second guessing the market with assessment escalation caps. One thing Virginia has is a fair full value tax assessment system. Once the assessed value wonders away from the market value, regardless of how well meaning it sounds, the Commonwealth is on the way to a New Jersey-like mess.

The reason property values are going up so fast is dysfunctional human settlement pattern. Public agencies and private enterprises are working together to build the wrong size houses in the wrong location. See Five “Critical Realities That Will Shape the Future” and “Wild Abandonment.”

In a democracy with a market economy what do you do when the price goes up too fast? Build more of what people want: modest sized homes with quality support close to jobs. Anyone who reads our columns knows the problem is not lack of land. It is lack of leadership that is willing to foster Fundamental Change.

Next Kilgore (and Kaine) are using the Gilmore ploy. Campaign on something the governor can not deliver (e.g. the car tax which became just an unfair burden transfer.) The legislature passes the laws and two legislatures have to pass a constitutional amendment and then the voters get a shot. By that time whomever is elected will be a one-legged duck.

Both Kilgore and Kaine are running for governor, not the chief of legislation. They will have 10s of thousands of employees who spend billions of dollars to do the states work. How will they make government run better? Jim Bacon raises some very good questions about state programs in need of help.

As we noted in an earlier post, functional government costs money. Dysfunctional government costs more money. The Kilgore/Kaine ideas suggest how some who are complaining about taxes might pay less. They do not address who pays more to cover the cost of current dysfunctions or for the future expansion of state, regional and community needs if current trends continue. They do not address how to lower the demand for services or provide them more effeciently.

Finally to solve transportation problems Kilgore proposes “regional transportation authorities.” The problem is an imbalance between transport system capacity and land use generated travel demand. A regional authority has merit only if it is an element of a system that addresses the real problem. (Of course, just raising taxes to generate more money without addressing demand generation will not solve the problem either.)

EMR

Now we know how Jerry Kilgore intends to deal with the tax issue — pass the buck to the voters. Formally announcing his candidacy yesterday, he promised (according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch) “to harness hostility to taxes by promising a voter veto for any sales-, income- or gasoline-tax increase.”

Huh? If he’s against tax increases, why doesn’t he just say he’s against tax increases? Why doesn’t he just say he’ll veto a sales-, income- or gasoline-tax increase? Is this some kind of maneuver to avoid offending voters while, at the same time, avoid offending the pro-tax Republicans in the General Assembly? How wishy-washy can you get?

Admittedly, there are worse ideas than letting the voters decide. A couple of years ago, they had enough sense to vote down higher sales taxes in Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia. Here’s the problem, holding down taxes is just the beginning of governance, not the end of governance. Virginia has real problems. We have traffic congestion. We need to improve the quality of K-12 education and the quality, affordability and accessibility of higher education. We have a long way to go in cleaning up our environment. We have a metastasizing Medicaid program that threatens to eat up the state budget, and runaway spending on health care generally. It’s fine to say that Virginia can meet these challenges without raising taxes. But how?

Anti-tax candidates are right — raising taxes is bad. It hurts the taxpayers, and it makes Virginia less attractive in the competition for corporate and human capital. But holding the lid on taxes and letting the other problems spiral out of control is even worse! Unfortunately, I have heard nothing from Kilgore suggesting that he has a clue on how to deal with these problems. Kicking the tax issue back to the voters doesn’t solve anything. The voters are looking to him for solutions!

A primer for the feeble-minded

*The marketplace sets the value (what a willing buyer will pay to a willing seller) of your house—not the governor, not the lieutenant governor, not the attorney general, not legislators, not mayors or town council members or supervisors, not the tax assessor, not the bank, not your Sunday school teacher. The marketplace sets the value of your house.

*The tax you pay on your house is determined by two things—the value of your house, as set by the marketplace, multiplied by the rate of taxation that is set by your supervisors, or by your town and city council members. The governor doesn’t set this rate. The lieutenant governor doesn’t set this rate. The attorney general doesn’t. The legislators don’t. The tax assessor doesn’t set it, nor does your Sunday school teacher. The folks you elect locally set this rate.

*If you think this rate of taxation on your house is too high, you can change it. You have the ultimate weapon. It’s called a ‘ballot.’ Use it. Vote out the local folks who have set your rate too high. It is easy. You can do it.

*And two final things to remember:

(1) There is really only one kind of tax in this country. It is income tax. One way or another it all comes out of out of your income; and

(2) It’s spring, true, but it is also the campaign season. You might not want to stand too close. That warm water you feel running down your leg might not be rain.

Regulation and support of Virginia’s assisted living facilities will be upgraded with Governor Warner’s signature on recently passed legislation, according to the Washington Post. The Post had previously reported on poor conditions and lax oversight.

This is definitely a step in the right direction, but one thing is missing. Many small assisted living facilities have business problems as much as they have care issues. Virginia offers more business support to companies that want to sell toilet paper to the state than to facilities serving indigent citizens.

Tomorrow–I think–the Washington Post will carry an in-depth story on the life and death of Jonathan Bowling, one of Patrick County’s best and brightest. I knew him. All of us in this small community admired his courage. All of us mourn his passing.

200: Lowest estimated number in billions of U.S. taxpayers dollars that have been spent on the war in Iraq

152,000: Estimated number of troops currently deployed in Iraq

1,511: U.S. troops killed in Iraq since the invasion

11,285: Americans wounded since the invasion was launched two years ago

21,100-39,300: Estimated number of Iraqi civilians killed since the invasion by violence from war and crime

176: Non-U.S. coalition troops killed in Iraq since the invasion

339: Coalition troops killed by Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs)

70: Daily average number of insurgent attacks on coalition forces in February 2005

14: Daily average number of insurgent attacks on coalition forces in February 2004

18,000: Estimated number of insurgents in Iraq today

5,000: Estimated number of insurgents in Iraq in June 2003
27 vs. 14: Countries remaining in the “coalition of the willing” versus number of coalition troops that have withdrawn all their forces or announced their intention to do so

25,000: Non-U.S. coalition troops still in Iraq

4,500: Troops that Italy and the Netherlands have pledged to withdraw before the end of the year

271,000: Number of Iraqi security forces – including police, border, and national guard forces – that the U.S. says it wants to train by July 2006

142,472: Iraqi security troops the Pentagon says it has trained and equipped

40,000: Iraqi troops that General Richard Myers, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said are adequately trained and equipped to handle most threats

40: Percent of U.S. troops in Iraq that belong to the National Guard and Reserve

0: Number of active Army combat units deployed to Iraq that have received the required year-long break from active duty required by Pentagon rules

30: Percent by which the U.S. National Guard missed its recruitment targets in November and December 2004

27: Percent by which the U.S. Army missed its recruitment goals in the past month

15: Percent of military personnel, according to GAO, who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, who could develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

2: Estimated output of Iraqi oil industry in millions of barrels per day

2.8: Estimated output of Iraqi oil industry in millions of barrels per day before the U.S. invasion

8: Average number of hours that Iraqis have electricity per day

28-40: Estimated Iraqi unemployment rate

4.3: Millions of children enrolled in primary school today

3.6: Millions of children enrolled in primary school in 2000

108: Millions of dollars in Halliburton overcharges hidden from international auditors by the Pentagon

9: Billions of dollars the Coalition Provisional Authority cannot account for of all funds dispensed for Iraq reconstruction

* Inspired by the Harper’s Index, with thanks to the editors.

The Washington Post has a story today on corporate blogging. Apparently, CEOs and other high company officials have a ways to go before their blogs realize the potential of the form:

Web logs — or blogs — started as a way to talk about new technologies, vent about life and interact in a no-holds-barred forum. Since blogs became the next big thing, an increasing number of companies have come to see them as the next great public relations vehicle — a way for executives to demonstrate their casual, interactive side.

But, of course, the executives do nothing of the sort. Their attempts at hip, guerrilla-style blogging are often pained — and painful.

I wrote about the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries below. I know they’re not a corporation, but it’s certainly an organization–many employees, spread around the state–where a blog would be a great communications vehicle. What if Daniel Hoffler, the resigning Chairman, had had a blog?

Would Hoffler have written about the planned trip to Zimbabwe in his blog? If he had, would employee comments have supported such a trip? Might the comments have tipped him off that this trip was a terrible idea?

Hard to say, but I think my hypothetical example explains why blogs may never be an effective corporate communications vehicle. Few leaders are willing to “interact in a no-holds barred forum.” They are used to doing what they want and being supported by their closest staffers. Going to Zimbabwe to learn about game management techniques made perfect sense to Hoffler; why would he have to convince some poor Virginia game warden in Shenandoah County that this “learning” experience in an exotic locale would benefit, him, too?

Maybe if Hoffler had spent a day with the Shenandoah County game warden and blogged about it, he might have come up with as many ideas as he got in Zimbabwe and been able to share them. He would have demonstrated to the entire organization that he really was in touch with the agency’s mission.

I’ve been flogging the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries controversy on these pages, so I feel compelled to continue as events unfold.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported this morning that Daniel A. Hoffler has resigned as Chairman of the Game and Inland Fisheries Board. Hoffler had been in the center of a storm of criticism over a “safari” he and others took to Zimbabwe.

I had previously wondered why Gov. Warner had not been asked to comment on the dust-up. The RT-D reported that Ellen Qualls, the Governor’s press secretary, “said the governor will not comment on the controversy over the credit-card use and other allegations against the department’s leadership until after the state’s internal auditor completes an investigation into a complaint last fall that led to revelations about the safari.” These investigations take time, I guess. I hope the investigators don’t have to travel to Africa to verify the expenses.

The Zimbabwe trip may be the tip of the iceberg:

From January 2003 to February 2004, department leaders traveled to six national conventions, including trips to Las Vegas and Reno, Nev. In most cases, the same four officials made the trips: Hoffler, Woodfin, Bradbery and Caison.

Six national conventions in 13 months? What great new ideas came from all this travel? How is it that agency morale apparently plummeted during this period of lavish conventioneering?

Someday, someone working for a Virginia Governor will recognize the money-pit scam that is convention and seminar travel by state employees, especially top brass. It’s definitely not just a Game and Inland Fisheries thing. High-flying state government muck-a-mucks could learn more by doing Google searches or just walking around their agencies, but they’d rather gush about all the great “networking” that went on at the Reno conference.

Update: Addison over at Sic Semper Tyrannis has more.

Today, The Washington Post expanded on the Kaine taxpayer relief proposals. There was no reference to rising assessments “running up tax bills” that was featured in the Chris Jenkin L. Jenkins story that ran yesterday. In today’s coverage by Peter Whoriskey there is a four part tax relief program and reference to two others related to transportation:

1. No assessment on additions and rehabilitations of residential units for 15 years
2. Homestead exemption by municipal governments
3. Fully fund the state’s share of school costs
4. No unfunded mandates
5. No raiding of the transport trust fund
6. Fair allocation of the transport funds

We did a mini-poll and most said: “If he can do that he has my vote.”
These mini-ideas may address the “tax payer revolt” but it does not address the need for Fundamental Changes to address future reality.

The first and second ideas are good ones if a fair way can be found to keep them from becoming another subsidy for those at the top of the economic food chain which is what has happened to the federal mortgage interest writeoff.

The next four are proposals that should have been implemented years ago. In fact it is hard to justify reelecting anyone now in office at the state level since they failed to help secure passage of these simple, good government initiatives 20, 10 or 2 years ago.

The future is a bigger concern. Functional government costs money. Dysfunctional government costs more money. These ideas suggest how some who are complaining about taxes might pay less. They do not address who pays more to cover the cost of current dysfunctions or for the future expansion of state, regional and community needs if current trends continue. They do not address how to lower the demand for services. The other parts of a tax relief program may come later but one is just political rhetoric without the others.

There is another question: Where have all the bloggers gone? No one responded to either Bacons challenge on the Kilgore review of Kaine or EMR’s request to spread the word on Barnie’s “solution” for “relief” from rising assessments.

Is everyone so concerned about defending some party or some candidate that they are unwilling to admit that the whole system is without clothes?

As Steve Canyon’s buddy was want to say: What Occurs?

EMR

Barnie, I went to that Michael Shear article in the Washington Post that you referenced below. I was hoping to get the names of “Potts’ campaign advisors” who “privately” are “pleased as punch” at their man’s good publicity.

I found no names. These guys are commenting on deep background!

Surely, Barnie, you can name some of these shadowy figures. The next Joe Trippi might be among them. They wouldn’t be preserving their political viability by remaining anonymous, would they? You’re our “go-to” guy on Potts. Please shine some light on these happy warriors.

Bloggers: Here is another mission concerning the Kaine vs Kilgore political rhetoric. In today’s front page Metro Section coverage of the Kaine “launch” there is reference to the fact that Kaine is going to help homeowners upset by higher real estate assessments. “Some increases would drive up tax bills by more than 20 percent.”

Please refer to the post below “INFORMATION PLEASE, BARNIE” for what seems to be an existing cure, if the public were aware of it. In reading the end of the Post story it is clear Kaine, Kilgores’s staff, the Post writer, his editors and professor Holsworth of VCU are all at sea.

The sooner we clear away this sort of political underbrush and let the candidates articulate how they plan to balance land use generated travel demand with transportation system capacity and other fact based issues, the better we will all be.

For a good review of the failure to address transortation reality including the fact that building more roads (regardless of where the money comes from) without fundamental change in human settlement pattern see Jim Bacon’s Pavlov’s Pols in the current Bacons Rebellion.

EMR

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?

Rep. Bobby Scott! An interesting item from The Hill newspaper covering Congress notes that 40 members of Congress carry at least $10,000 worth of credit card debt — at a time the House is considering a measure that would give banks and credit card companies expanded powers to seek repayment from debtors who file bankruptcy.

Reports The Hill: “The lawmaker reporting the highest credit-card debt was Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), who noted that in 2003 he had between $80,000 and $175,000 spread across seven credit cards.”

Barnie:

Some time ago you responded to a point made on this blog that I thought indicated that municipalities could not ride up property assesments to raise taxes. Fauquier’s budget is up 21% with no tax rate increase because of new assesments. I must have misunderstood your point. Could you re run it please.

(All this partisan political snipping and sniping has two impacts: Do not bother to vote and it takes up space that could be devoted to facts.)

Thank you

EMR

In Friday’s edition of the Washington Times, “Democrats: GOP rift spells gains in the House” talks of Virginia Democrats who are aiming to capitalize on the Republican Party’s recent split over tax increases; as a result they are putting up more candidates this year for the House races.

In response, the Speaker of the House of Delegates, Bill Howell, is quoted saying:

“We are a team. We are united…” “[The tax fight] is behind us.”

Hello? Earth to Speaker Howell: Please stop listening to the Kilgore campaign propaganda and start talking to the conservative wing of your Party.

A few days ago I wondered why certain controversies in state government were reported without seeking or printing any comment from the Governor’s office. The example I used came from Washington Post and Richmond Times-Dispatch articles on the current flap over management in the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.

Now the RT-D is at it again.

Today their front page is again about Game and Inland Fisheries, but this time with a Freedom of Information Act focus. A couple waged a long battle with the agency for information and along the way picked up indications of questionable expenditures and activities, including the now infamous safari to Zimbabwe.

Once again, no comment from the Governor’s office and no indication that the Governor’s office was even aware of the long-running battle, including lawsuits, involving citizens and an executive agency.

Am I crazy to think that the Governor’s views on this might be relevant? Why doesn’t anyone ask?

One person I hope to hear from on the FOIA angle is our own Becky Dale.