Shaun Kenney | Politics and Religion in Virginia's Public Square


Saturday, February 25, 2006 Virginia Centrist: Why levy fee increases? Virginia Centrist asks why the Virginia legislature (Republicans in particular) seem fit to raise every fee in the Commonwealth rather than raise taxes: What's the difference between tax increases and fee increases? Not much, except for the fact that fee increases arbitrarily hit random segments of the population. Simple tax increases (like a gas tax increase or a sales tax increase) are relatively well spread out usually and hit every person evenly. ... You know what I want to see? An increase in the corporate income tax. Ok, not really. But it would be interesting to see the pro-business groups like the Chamber react if GA came after them for extra money to improve the congestion that is "stifling commerce" instead of mining the Virginia code for sneaky fees to increase. Not in a million years would the Chamber support that. And you can't blame them - it's their job to fight for business interests. But it's worth calling them out on it. At some point, if business interests want better infrastructure, then they're going to have to pay for it (to borrow a phrase used by nearly every "moderate" pro-business group in the Commonwealth). There's a good reason for endorsing the idea of user fees vs. taxation, being those who use the services should ideally pay for them. It's free market vs. statism. Unfortunately, what's happening is that we are raising all sorts of fees in Virgnia, but not lowering any of the income, property, BPOL, car, sales, or other taxes across the board. It would be great to move to a system where a moderate income tax augmented by user fees would be the way we do business in Virginia. Unfortunately, there is very little vision lighting that way today. posted by Shaun Kenney \| 2/25/2006 08:13:00 PM \| 0 comments 0 Comments: Post a Comment Home
	RedStormPAC $ JEFFERSONIAD POLL: Whom do you support for Virginia Attorney General? 1) John Brownlee 2) Ken Cuccinelli View Results About ShaunKenney.com is one of Virginia's oldest political blogs, focusing on the role of religion and politics in public life. Shaun Kenney, 30, lives in Fluvanna County, Virginia. Contact E-mail RSS/Atom Feed The Jeffersoniad Archives March 2002 April 2002 May 2002 June 2002 July 2002 August 2002 September 2002 October 2002 November 2002 December 2002 January 2003 February 2003 March 2003 April 2003 May 2003 June 2003 July 2003 August 2003 September 2003 October 2003 November 2003 December 2003 January 2004 February 2004 March 2004 April 2004 May 2004 June 2004 July 2004 August 2004 September 2004 October 2004 November 2004 December 2004 January 2005 February 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 April 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 December 2007 January 2008 February 2008 March 2008 April 2008 May 2008 June 2008 July 2008 August 2008 September 2008 October 2008 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009