Jim Gilmore's campaign tells the rest of the Car Tax story. One of the biggest misconceptions people seem to have about the Car Tax repeal is that it was some sort of budget buster. Nothing could be further from the truth. On the heals of the Associated Press’ own admission that Jim Gilmore left office with a balanced budget , we now present the following car tax facts:
After cutting the car tax by 70 percent so working families would have more of their money, Governor Gilmore left Mark Warner a balanced budget as required by law and more than $1 billion in the state's Rainy Day Fund. Claiming the state had a budget deficit, Mark Warner stopped the final phase of the car tax cut, increased taxes by a record amount and raided the Rainy Day Fund twice! Then only weeks later, Mark Warner disclosed the state actually had a surplus -- not a deficit as he had claimed.
At the time Governor Gilmore began the car tax cut it represented 2.5 percent of the total state budget -- not a high percentage of tax dollars to be returned to working families. Today the car tax cut represents only 1.3 percent of the total state budget -- so when Democrats claim that even today the car tax cut is still causing problems for the state budget they are incorrect. The problem is spending. The state budget has increased by $25 billion -- a 50 percent increase in the seven years of the Warner/Kaine administrations -- with no further tax relief.This election is about trust. Mark Warner is a big spendin, high tax opportunist, a say anything to get elected politician who broke his word repeatedly to the voters. Governor Gilmore kept his promises and is a straightforward and principled leader who has proven that he will do what he says he will do.
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