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Two Republican legislators
who live just a few miles apart in Stafford County will have much to say about whether Gov. Mark Warner’s proposed tax reform package will be approved during the 2004 legislative session starting in January.
The Warner plan to raise the sales tax a penny, impose new taxes on cigarettes and make higher income earners pay more state taxes is currently the only one on the table.
The legislative commission that had been studying tax reform came up with no recommendations before it folded its tent and walked away last week.
Speaker of the House Bill Howell of Stafford told me that he wanted more time to look over the Warner proposals before deciding exactly how to address them.
But he also said at first glance, they look much more like tax increases than tax reform.
Noting that Warner had campaigned on a promise not to increase taxes, Howell predicted that the Governor’s proposals will face rough sledding in the House of Delegates, where there is a significant conservative majority.
In the State Senate, something resembling the Warner package may have a better shot at passage, particularly if Senate Finance Committee chairman John Chichester, also of Stafford, favors it.
Chichester was quoted as saying he felt the Governor “has recognized as well as many of us that the financial structure of Virginia’s government is in jeopardy, vis-a-vis our financial stability and our credit ratings.”
All 36 House Democrats will likely support Warner, Howell predicted, but he would have to find 15 votes among House Republicans and independents to get the 51 votes necessary for its passage.
92.4%