Update: Republicans stopped all new taxes in the House

The Family Foundation's Virginia Cobb issued a correction in their analysis about the House votes for HB 6055. Republicans in the House were looking after the taxpayers while petulant Democrats in the Senate made obstruction the centerpiece of their agenda.

"Last week the General Assembly adjourned without passing any transportation package. The good news for Virginia families is that they also left Richmond without further damaging family economies by raising our taxes. While the political fallout of last week’s decisions for both Democrats and Republicans won’t be determined until next year’s elections, polling taken prior to the session indicated that the vast majority of Virginians are growing weary of ever increasing taxes.

As the special tax session ended past midnight last Wednesday and legislative maneuvering took place after our staff had to depart the capitol, we simply erred in implying in our email alert from last Thursday that House members had voted for tax hikes in the final version of HB 6055, a Republican attempt at fixing last year’s transportation package.

After further review and analysis of the bill, it is clear that House Republicans in particular successfully eliminated any and all new taxes on families from that bill before passing it on to the state Senate. In fact, they attempted to use existing revenues in both Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia and apply those moneys to transportation needs in their respective regions. We are very grateful for the work of those in the House who came to the aide of families by protecting our incomes during a struggling economy.

Unfortunately, the Democrat led state Senate killed every non-tax-hike bill, including a needed independent audit of VDOT and Constitutional protections for the Transportation Trust Fund. Until these and other budget reforms take place, the General Assembly has no business raiding our wallets yet again."

Victoria Cobb, President
The Family Foundation