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Sheep
to the Shearing
The
muttonheads in the House of Delegates , bleating in
protest every step of the way, are getting fleeced
on the tax issue.
I
have a neighbor in my rural community who put a for
sale sign on his pickup. Another neighbor
asked how much the owner wanted for it. “Fifteen hundred dollars,” he responded and then
added, “but that’s not my best offer.”
It
sounds like the majority in the Virginia House of
Delegates this past week. After 17 Republican
delegates defied their GOP leaders, ignored their
own caucus and joined 35 clueless House Democrats to
pass a bill increasing state sales and cigarette
taxes, they found themselves politically adrift and
at the mercy of that equally rudderless band of
House Democrats, Gov. Mark R. Warner and a gleeful
Senate majority that clearly intends to let those
renegade House Republicans squirm.
What
this unlikely combination of delegates has done is
open the bidding over taxes with an offer to the
Senate that doesn’t appear to be their best and
final offer. Fear of a government shutdown
obviously motivated some of these delegates to
support a general tax increase — something a
majority of the House had firmly rejected for more
than 57 days of regular and special sessions this
year.
Why
wouldn’t the Senate conclude that if fear prompted
this abrupt shift on taxes last week, the same fear
will prompt the House to bid against itself if the
Senate simply does nothing? The Republican
delegates who switched on taxes and provided the
margin to pass the bill are now in a political No
Man’s Land.
The
House Democrats who voted for the GOP-drafted tax
measure are not in much better shape. Out of
obedience to Gov. Warner, who wants a tax
increase at all cost, they abandoned any pretense of
principle in voting for a measure that raises the
sales and cigarette taxes to fund a repeal of the
estate tax.
A
year ago, these same Democrats were insisting that
the estate tax repeal was a sop to wealthy
Virginians. Now they are willing to increase
taxes they have always considered regressive and
unfairly burdensome on the poor to pay for this
estate tax repeal.
There
is no real leader of this new pro-tax group in the
House. No one has surfaced as a spokesman
because it isn’t a unified group at all.
Democrats outnumber Republicans, but no Democrat
participated in drafting the tax bill.
This
tax fight in the General Assembly has become a GOP
family spat. Even Warner will have difficulty
working his will over this bunch. Democrats in
the legislature are just along for the ride — or
to supply a vote when needed.
It’s
not a pretty sight at all. When the long term
impact is felt, the picture may appear even bleaker.
Virginia
has carefully guarded its tradition of
citizen-legislator. You'd think we were in
ancient Athens to hear the way some Virginians describe our
system.
The
citizen-legislator model won’t survive the change
wrought this year by Warner and State Senate Finance
Chairman John Chichester, R-Stafford — if they succeed.
No longer will a budget be approved in a few weeks.
Now that those who favor government expansion and
higher taxes understand that they can hold the
Budget Bill hostage to win passage of their agenda,
the same game will be played every two years.
If
the public is upset now about legislators accepting
their per diem expense checks during a special
session, wait until they get the bill for a long
session under the New Regime.
--
April 26, 2004
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