Monday, February 25, 2013
VA REPUBLICANS JOINTLY PASS LARGEST TAX INCREASE IN STATE HISTORY
In what may be his George H.W. Bush moment, and much to the chagrin of Virginia's conservatives, Republican Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell, along with Republican VA House Speaker William Howell, endorsed the largest tax increase in the history of Virginia on Saturday.
On paper, the General Assembly passed a bill to raise taxes to fund transportation projects that is slated to bring in $880 million more a year in taxes, but the true cost to taxpayers is estimated to be "$1.13 billion per year in tax increases."
Regardless, it is by far the greatest tax increase in the history of the Commonwealth, surpassing the $442 million per year increase in 1986 and $680 million per year increase in 2004.
“This is a historic day in Virginia. We have worked together across party lines to find common ground and pass the first sustainable long-term transportation funding plan in 27 years," McDonnell, who also may have plans to run for president in 2016, said in a statement on Saturday. "There is a ‘Virginia Way’ of cooperation and problem solving, and we saw it work again today in Richmond."
Many conservatives in Virginia saw it as a "historic day" for other reasons. ( read the entire story here )