IF PEOPLE want to give their money to the government, we should let them. The proposed tax referendum for Northern Virginia has become the dominant theme in Virginia's gubernatorial campaign recently, with Mark Earley (R) coming out strongly opposed to the idea and Mark Warner (D) defending his support of the proposal.
In the interest of fairness, even those opposed to the idea of raising taxes for Northern Virginia should allow the referendum to go ahead, to let the voters decide for themselves. But in opposing it, Earley has distorted both the referendum itself and the details surrounding it.
Earley has said that, "Surveys show that Northern Virginia voters oppose Warner's tax increase 51 percent to 39." Only by the greatest stretch of the imagination is this true. The latest Washington Post poll shows that Virginians support holding the referendum by nearly two to one, and this support grows to 70 percent in the Washington suburbs.
This shouldn't be surprising. Even though some don't support the referendum, many still want the issue to come to a vote. The growth of these numbers in Northern Virginia only shows that more citizens are concerned about this.
James Dyke, former Chair of the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce and current policy chair for the Warner Campaign, asserted in a phone interview that Northern Virginians feel ignored by the state government. "The frustration level is off the charts. There have been years of neglect by the state in dealing with transportation issues in Northern Virginia."
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Traffic problems have been steadily worsening over the past few decades. And, according to Dyke, "the state has not been stepping up to the responsibility." In response, Earley would point to his strong history of transportation financing. According to his campaign's Web site, he "strongly supported Governor Gilmore's commitment of $400 million in additional transportation dollars during the 2000 General Assembly session" (http://www.markearley.com).
For the future, Earley supports technological and structural improvements for highways, high-speed rail initiatives and funding for telecommuting. He proposes alloting $1.8 billion for these programs.
But we must question how Earley intends to pay for this. With a faltering economy and a General Assembly that failed to deliver a budget last year, the next governor won't have a smooth fiscal ride. Like it or not, something's going to have to give.
According to Dyke, with the exception of the referendum, Earley's plan for funding transportation "are pretty much parallel" to Warner's. By eliminating the referendum, Earley removes the possibility of $900 million more that can go toward improving transportation.
Assuming that Warner wins the election and the referendum fails, voters will still be in the same position as if Earley had been elected. Warner isn't relying on the referendum for his fiscal plan any more than Earley's plan will fail without it.
Repeatedly referring to it as a $900 million tax increase, Earley has tried to turn Warner's support of having the referendum as proof that he's a tax and spend liberal. On Sunday, Earley adviser Christopher LaCivita called Warner "a liberal Democrat-Clinton protege" ("N.Va. tax issue is helping Warner, new poll shows," The Washington Post, Oct. 28).
But the referendum is far from an ultra-liberal proposal. Several key Republican lawmakers from Northern Virginia support the referendum, including Virginia Delegates Jack Rollison (R-Woodbridge), Vince Callahan (R-McLean), Jeannemarie Devolites (R-Vienna), Jay O'Brien (R-Clifton), John Rust (R-Fairfax) and State Sen. Warren Barry (R-Fairfax).
Earley is suffering because of this fact. Many Republican legislators from Northern Virginia are withholding support for Earley because of this issue, or in the case of Barry, even publicly endorsing Warner.
Dyke also points out that Northern Virginia may lose commerce because of the traffic. "Because the businesses up here are fairly mobile, they can pick up and leave if they find that their employees can't get to work." Thus, it makes sense that many Northern Virginia businesses are standing behind the referendum. Last Sunday, the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce endorsed the proposal.
With the voters, Earley is doing even worse. In the most recent Washington Post poll, he fell 10 points behind Warner after spending weeks making the tax referendum the dominant issue in the campaign. Similarly, half of voters thought that Earley was being "unfair" in calling Warner a fan of tax increases.
And rightly so. Holding the tax referendum is a good idea, even if it doesn't pass. By distorting the process in an attempt to hurt his opponent, Earley has shot himself in the foot with five days until the election.
(Brian Cook is a Cavalier Daily associate editor. He can be reached at bcook@cavalierdaily.com.)
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