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Howell is certain legislators in both chambers will have their own tax proposals to offer, including some that would raise gasoline taxes to pay for transportation improvements.
Chichester said the study group had talked about many aspects of tax reform, and felt there would be no need for a report. Presumably, the Warner plan will be the starting point for legislative discussion.
Warner, while raising the sales tax and other taxes to generate an additional $500 million a year, would at the same time reduce the sales tax on food, lower the income tax for low-wage earners, and eliminate the estate tax on many farms and small businesses.
The Governor called his plan “fiscally conservative,” and one that would meet state core obligations. He said that under his plan, 65 percent of Virginia taxpayers will pay less than they do now.
But Howell said that while he would follow the Governor’s call for legislators not to rush to quick judgments, he also said he felt that raising the state sales tax from 4.5 to 5.5 cents is not tax reform, but a tax increase.
State Republican party director Kate Obenshain Griffin was much more pointed in her remarks.
She charged that the Governor “has engaged in potentially devastating tradeoff of Virginia jobs for short term revenue growth.”
And State Sen. Bill Bolling (R-Hanover), a potential candidate for lieutenant governor in 2005, said the Warner package
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