Hogs: Virginia Raises Taxes for Transportation
by Lewis DerkinsMay 13th, 2008, 6:55 pm
Governor Tim Kaine announced a new transportation budget plan yesterday that will provide $1 billion annually by 2012 for the Virginia’s infrastructure needs.
Before I start to moan about what’s wrong with the plan, let me first at least give the governor credit for realizing that there is a problem and trying to tackle it.
My main complaint stems from the fact that Northern Virginia will get a 1% increase in sales tax to help fund this. Vehicle owners will also feel the pinch with a 1% increase in vehicle sales taxes.
First off, why should only Northern Virginia pay for infrastructure that benefits the whole state? The jobs created in DC, and the goods that flow into Virginia through Northern Virginia’s roads help the whole state. The whole state should pay for this if it’s worth doing, otherwise, don’t make the investment.
But in truth, I don’t support any tax increase to fund this.
If you look at the proposed 09 budget for Virginia, you’ll see the following:
$5.7 million to Non–State Entities (why are state taxes paying?)
$19.4 million to the Marine Resources Commission which seems entirely redundant when compared to the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and the Department of Conservation and Recreation
$357 million to Comprehensive Services for At Risk Youth – this is one of those feel good programs that can tell you a lot about how much money they spend, but doesn’t have a lot of measurable data on the good they actually do. Private charities can perform tasks like this much better, and more people would probably donate if we weren’t being taxed up the ying yang.
$50.4 million to the Department for the Aging – see the above comment.
$8.8 million to the Department of Planning and Budget – we pay this much money just to have them tell us how to spend it. That is absolutely crazy.
$87.3 million to the Department of Taxation – we pay this much money just so they can take it from us. This is also crazy. Give them 20%, that saves us $69.8 million.
$17.3 million to the Virginia Economic Development Partnership – if we built roads and infrastructure, and lowered our taxes, we wouldn’t need this. If you build it they will come – see Field of Dreams for source quote.
$116.3 million to the Department of Housing and Community Development – government interference in the marketplace that distorts real prices. Government housing projects are notoriously dangerous, dirty and decrepit. These people would be better off in privately owned housing that was cheap enough to afford. If the government got out of this business, I’ll bet someone would get in on the business and corner that area of the market. The government passes laws that protect tenants, and landlords follow or they are prosecuted. You don’t need a huge regulatory agency for this. You need the attorney general and a hotline.
$72.5 million to the Legislative branch. Only $32.0 million actually pays for the general assembly – the rest goes to riff-raff pet projects that if eliminated would save us $40.5 million
$231.0 million to the DMV. We pay this much to an organization that accomplished tasks that could all be done on an automated computer system.
$73.0 million to DMV Transfer Payments. This organization administers strange taxes that could easily be folded into the above automated program.
Assume that the above programs cost 20% of what they do now once automated, that would save us $243.2 million.
$63.3 million to the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. We subsidize crops to keep prices artificially high which only helps big time farmers who can lobby for the subsidies and helps contribute to ridiculous problems like the Ethanol debacle.
$14.6 million to the Department of Labor and Industry. You have laws. See above for Housing suggestion. Establish a hotline and prosecute. This isn’t the late 1800’s, we don’t put children into sweatshops anymore.
$19.1 million to the Department of Professional and Occupational Registration. We pay these people to license organizations. The professions know what the standards are, and they can read Virginia laws and comply. Establish the hotline. Why do we need this again?
If you add up the numbers in bold above, you end up with a grand total of $1.025 billion. It took me longer to write this post than to peruse the executive summary of the budget to find this much dripping pork. I wonder what I would find if I looked at it line by line?
Until someone starts asking tough questions about where the money we already have is going, we don’t need any new taxes.
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Posted in Car Taxes, Government Workers, Highways, Politics, Spending, Tax Increases, Tolls |
is it me or does gov kaine look a bit like porky the pig
by the way - 1% on a $10,000 is $100 - too much to pay for nothing in return
He does look a little like Porky, that picture really makes for a good comparison.