If you disagree with the nostrums of the Washington Post, its editorial writers condemn you as an ideologue or a fool. Their arrogance is on display once again, attacking Del. L. Scott Lingamfelter, R-Prince William, for suggesting that Virginians are overtaxed.
Citing studies that show Virginia to be a low/moderate-tax state (the same studies cited on this blog recently), the Post refers scathingly to Lingamfelter and his “fact-averse” Republican colleagues in the House for their opposition to raising taxes for transportation.
Mr. Lingamfelter and his colleagues are allergic to a fact-based analysis of tax burdens because the facts are not on their side. That is ridiculous enough when downstate lawmakers mouth this nonsense, heedless as they are of Northern Virginia’s nightmarish traffic. It is galling coming from Mr. Lingamfelter…
The debate boils down to which facts you pay attention to, and which ones you ignore. The WaPo has certain facts on its side, but chooses to ignore others, such as the fact that Virginia has been running chronic budget surpluses since the passage of the 2004 tax increase. When Del. Lingamfelter suggests that Virginians are overtaxed, I suspect he’s referring to the fact of the budget surpluses.
Here’s another fact: Virginia has one of the strongest state economies in the country. Several Virginia MSAs are growing faster than the national average (in order of growth): Winchester, Lynchburg, Northern Virginia, Blacksburg, Roanoke and Richmond. One reason — not the only reason, but one of them — is that Virginia has one of the lower tax burdens in the country. Innumerable studies have demonstrated that low taxes are correlated with higher rates of economic growth. That, too, is a fact.
Low taxes, I would add, are particularly important to downstate Metropolitan Statistical Areas that don’t have the luxury of the federal government, with its power to redistribute the nation’s wealth, to pump up their local economies. We need a low-tax business climate to prosper.
We could argue all day long on who is more “fact-averse” — the WaPo editorial writers or Del. Lingamfelter. But onl the WaPo is arrogant enough to think that it has a monopoly on the facts.
