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In
a recent column, I compared politics in Virginia
and Maryland
and concluded that the Old Dominion is beginning to
look less fiscally disciplined than our neighbor
across the Potomac.
Now, I’d like to look across our border to
the south to see how Virginia
stacks up against North
Carolina when it comes to taxes and spending.
The
comparison quickly focused on two key legislators:
Virginia’s
John Chichester and
North
Carolina’s
Marc Basnight. Chichester
is the President Pro Tempore of the Virginia Senate.
Basnight holds a similar position in the
North Carolina Senate.
A
year ago,
Chichester
led the effort in the Virginia General Assembly to
raise state taxes. His
proposed tax hike was several times greater than
what Virginia Gov. Mark R. Warner proposed and what
is actually generated by the tax legislation enacted
last year.
As
Virginia’s
tax increase was being enacted last spring, Chichester
announced that he would push for an additional tax
hike for transportation.
Warner disagreed, saying that another tax
increase wasn’t warranted.
Chichester
continues to argue for higher taxes and says he will
introduce legislation in 2006 to raise taxes for
transportation.
North
Carolina Senator Basnight, on the other hand, wrote
to his constituents earlier this year to advise them
that his first priority would be to cut all waste in
government spending.
“Until we have made our government as
efficient as possible ... we should not raise
revenue of any kind.”
Basnight went on to say that if the
elimination of waste and other spending cuts left
the state short of funding absolutely critical state
needs, he would look for additional state revenues.
The
difference in the approach and priorities of these
two legislative leaders helps to explain why
Virginia
is becoming fiscally lax.
Unlike Basnight, who must undertake an
investigation to identify waste, inefficiency and
low-priority programs,
Chichester
was handed a report prepared for Warner in 2002 by a
commission headed by former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder.
The report concluded that the Commonwealth
can reduce spending by $1.3 billion a year through
increased efficiency and the elimination of waste.
Chichester
ignored that report in his single-minded pursuit of
a massive tax hike.
Basnight
may not pursue spending reductions as aggressively
as I would, but at least he acknowledges that true
fiscal responsibility compels elected officials to
attempt to eliminate waste before raising taxes.
For Chichester,
fiscal responsibility means raising taxes without
trying to make state government more efficient and
focused.
Last
year’s huge tax hike can’t be attributed to a
single legislator. Even
Warner and
Chichester
together could not have assured the enactment of the
2004 tax increase. The
House of Delegates could have blocked it.
The
House recognized the opportunity to eliminate
wasteful and unnecessary spending rather than enact
the massive tax increase proposed by the Senate, but
it failed to act on it.
More than a year after the House formally
requested a report from Warner on his progress
toward implementing the Wilder Commission
recommendations, it has heard nothing.
This
prompts another unfavorable comparison with
Maryland.
The Democrats who control the Maryland
General Assembly, unlike the GOP majority of the
Virginia House of Delegates, have confronted the
governor and acted as a truly coordinate branch of
government.
But
doesn’t
Virginia
enjoy the highest ranking for fiscal management
among the states? That’s
true. Such a
ranking comes from decades of discipline.
Virginia
won’t maintain its superior ranking if it
continues on its current course.
--
February 28, 2005
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