One of the big ideas that Jerry Kilgore is touting in his kickoff tour is his plan to require any tax increase - gasoline, sales, or income - be put before the voters in a referendum. A recent Washington Post article on the subject gives us a feel for how the zany idea is being received among Republican leaders and party activists.
Interestingly, Republican leaders are almost completely silent on the referendum, unwilling to criticize Kilgore for fear of hurting his chances in November against Tim Kaine. When even Jim Gilmore, the man responsible for nearly destroying Virginia's finances with his insistence on cutting the car tax at all costs, will only say, "I certainly support the candidate" when confronted with this tax referendum idea, you know that they all think the referendum idea is utterly ludicrous.
Republican Delegate Vince Callahan, Chairman of the Appropriations Committee, had nothing nice to say about the plan either. Instead, he simply punted on the question. Seems that the rule for GOP leaders when asked about Jerry Kilgore's latest harebrained scheme is,"if you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all."
Still, Kilgore's idea is popular with the right-wing rank and file. Not that this should be particularly surprising; what Kilgore is offering here is the sort of red meat on taxes that right-wingers love. Obviously, these people know that it will be far more difficult to pass a tax increase if it is made into a referendum that can be demagogued. Right-wingers also are well aware that the real point of Kilgore's plan is to make sure revenues can never be increased - not for any reason. One right-wing activist had this to say, "I'd rather have the taxes stopped in the first place [by the legislature]. But since we've beaten every single referendum so far, it's essentially the same thing. So I'm happy."
In other words, Kilgore's plan would make revenue increases almost impossible. But tax cuts would still be fairly easy, as would increased spending. This combination would, of course, be disastrous, marking the beginning of the end for Virginia's financial integrity and ability to provide state services. Meanwhile, localities would be forced to increase taxes to make up for the loss in state money that would result.
But Kilgore has a plan to block that option too. It's called capping the growth in homeowners' assessments at 5% a year, preventing cities and counties from raising the money they need. How clever.
The bottom line here is that Kilgore intends to strangle Virginia's finances at their source. Not only that, but he wants taxpayers to vote for this lunacy themselves. That way, when the state goes to hell in a handbasket, Republican lawmakers will be able to argue that they had no choice but to slash essential state services. The people made them do it!
Grover Norquist would be so proud.