Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 5 · column 2 of 7 · from the scan, no model involved
money spending committees but, unlike 2004, the House did not cave in to the doomsday threats of the Governor and Senate. In 2004, the House gave in to the Governor’s budget distortions and fear tactics. A few days after passage of the largest tax increase in the history of the Commonwealth, the legislature was informed that the Commonwealth was running 9 significant surplus and the newly-passed $1.4 billion tax increase was unnecessary. The fact is that the public wasn’t buying what they were selling this time. Even folks in traffic-choked Northern Virginia said in poll after poll that raising taxes at a time of budgetary surplus was just plain wrong.
Despite the gargantuan increase in Commonwealth spending (a 16% increase from just two years ago), the Governor and most senators still believe a $1 billion tax
95.3%