Stand by for heavy rolls in this coming special legislative session. The Republicans fully intend to be obstructionist during the special session likely because they want to diminish the goodwill that Governor Kaine has sustained and possibly even increased for the Democratic Party during his tenure. And they are preying on the aspirations of the average Virginian to trick them into believing they will be somehow harmed if the state is fiscally responsible. This is a continuation of the Governor Allen double talk and the slight of hand Governor Gilmore set in motion. Handoff to Attorney General Bob McDonnell who released a partisan attack on the plan today under the letterhead of his elected office rather than as a campaign statement. Where was he when the General Assembly handed the Governor the clearly unconstitutionally crafted transportation plan of 2007? Muffled by the lock-step dictates of the Virginia Republican Party hierarchy?
This all goes to the ballad of the "Bleeding Heart Conservative," the "Compassionate Conservative," or whatever you want to call those who cry for welfare for the rich. Pity those who bear the burden of success. Praise them for their benevolence when they tip appropriately for good table service. Yes, there is a knucklehead commentator on every afternoon who believes that we should be grateful for the tax cuts for the rich because, after all, they just could not afford to tip us well without that consideration, leaving us who knows where. And, after all, it is those tips that power our upward economic mobility.
Of course they sprinkle in a little pandering to the average Virginian by throwing around terms like "regressive tax" just to get them coming and going. You see, no one likes taxes. Everyone aspires to be rich. While you are not rich, a regressive tax is bane. And when you will be rich, a progressive tax is a disincentive to be rich (or so that great tipper commentator tells his listeners who are not rich because they perceive the opportunity cost of every additional dollar as being equal to the pain of the tax dollar they are paying now; it's not. Oh, by the way, his audience lacks wealthy listeners to support him because they are too busy ignoring his whole argument while making more money). Yes, there are aspects of regression. But some aspects of the tax are arguably progressive. And the regressive portions can be balanced in the tax code.
Regressive is the cost of repairing your vehicle when a chuckhole swallows your wheel, breaking a hub or axel. Regressive is sitting in traffic for hours watching the fuel gauge drop while getting nowhere fast. Regressive is eliminating the car tax so that everyone rich and poor equally fails to pay for the costs of the transportation infrastructure. Regressive is redirecting the burden of the state's responsibility to local municipalities and counties whose only source of revenue is sales or property taxes (until they find they must levy a city income tax). Do you really believe a Republican can stomach a "progressive" tax?
The Republicans firmly believe that you can't get elected if you tell the truth. They are aided and abetted by staff writers in the "liberal press" who provide such scintillating balanced reporting as this from the Richmond Times Dispatch:
"Gov. Timothy M. Kaine at this hour is rolling out yet another tax-fattened plan to repair Virginia's cash-starved transportation system."
A few of them know the truth. But they have created such a pleasant cache of fairy tales that even they want to cling to them. These are all crafted around taking advantage of the discontinuity of scale between microeconomic and macroeconomic theory; or by never having advanced beyond econ 101. Governor Warner's campaign for the Senate, given Gilmore is his opponent, is the best opportunity to pull back the curtain and reveal the combination of naivety and cowardice demonstrated by these fiscally irresponsible con artists.
The chickens may be coming home to roost. The Republicans underestimate Governor Kaine. They underestimate the people of Virginia. They underestimate the truth. They underestimate the schism a Warner-Gilmore race may have among the Virginia Republican Party's faithful.
Cross posted at VBDems.org - Blogging our way to Democratic wins in Virginia Beach! Go RK!