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
