I’m not the only one to be fixated on the ever-growing state surplus, which the Associated Press now pegs at $1 billion this year. (I presume that’s over and above the surplus talked about in January, which the General Assembly largely funneled into road projects, though I’m not sure.) Arlingtonian Tim Wise over at the Growls blog quotes The Washington Post and Richmond Times-Dispatch:
According to the Post, the Secretary of Finance “told the Senate Finance Committee that tax collections have increased by 15.2% over the first 11 months of the last fiscal year . . . well ahead of the official forecast of 10.3% growth for fiscal 2005, which ends in two weeks. Revenue grew at an even higher rate in May, increasing by 23% over last year.” The AP story in today’s Newport News Daily Press points out, “Even without last year’s $1.4 billion tax increase, revenue would have been up 19.2% last month.” The bottom line, as usual, seems to be provided in a Richmond Times-Dispatch editorial: either Governor Warner’s fiscal analysts “are woefully off base in their revenue projections . . . or Warner and his staff continue lowballing estimates in order to increase support for the Governor’s political agenda.”
Everyone has their own idea of what to do with that money. My personal favorite is to give it back to the taxpayers. One place to start looking for ideas might be the Freedom & Prosperity Agenda unveiled by a coalition of Virginia conservaties in April. Just to get the conversation started, here are some of that group’s ideas:
- Eliminate the War of 1812 tax (BPOL)
- Pass a Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR)
- Eliminate the Death tax
- Eliminate the prepayment of the Sales and Use tax
- Constitutional Amendment to base real estate taxes on the acquisition value of the property
- Proposals for new taxes must contain sunset provisions
- Eliminate the car tax
For details on the Freedom & Prosperity Agenda, click here.
