RICHMOND - Republican Party of Virginia Chairman Pat Mullins has been joined by Speaker of the House of Delegates Bill Howell and Del. Terry Kilgore (1st District) in calling for Democratic candidates from across Virginia to declare whether they support Creigh Deeds in his promise to raise taxes if elected. Deeds says he will raise more than $1 billion in taxes, which would mean at least a 20-cent hike in the gasoline tax.
"This is just the absolute wrong time, as Governor Kaine has recognized, to be raising taxes - when you're in a deep, deep recession. Particularly the gasoline tax, which is a very regressive tax that impacts the people who can least afford to pay it the most," said Speaker Howell. "I would be interested in knowing where the other Democrats are on this. Do they support their gubernatorial candidate or not?"
"I think it's a clear defining issue between our candidates and their opponents," said Kilgore. "Particularly in my part of the state, where people have to drive long distances just to get to work, raising the gas tax at this time is just the wrong idea. But we want to know where the House candidates stand."
"Mr. Deeds, in his transportation piece in the Washington Post, again really didn't outline a transportation plan. The one thing that was different this time was that he did acknowledge that he would raise taxes," Mullins said. "We feel it's important that since the top of the ticket has said he would raise taxes and his ticket mates have agreed, we really need to know as voters in the Commonwealth where their candidates for the House of Delegates are going to be."
Last week, Democratic state Senator Edd Houck (17th District) threw up a red flag on tax increases in an e-mail to constituents, balking at increasing the economic burden on Virginians during a difficult economic period. Houck, a member of the Virginia Senate since 1984, is the second-ranking member on the budget-writing Senate Finance Committee. He is also one of five senators to serve as a conferee on the Budget Conference Committee, a small group of legislators from each chamber who meet to hammer out taxing and spending proposals for consideration by the entire General Assembly and approval by the governor.
"Fortunately, Governor Kaine's proposals contain no tax increases," Houck wrote in an e-mail that largely dealt with efforts to balance Virginia's budget. "With salaries remaining stagnant or worse individuals losing their jobs, a tax increase is unneeded."
Del. Steve Landes (R-25th District) challenged his opponent to state a clear position on Deeds' tax increase proposal. Democratic candidate Greg Marrow quickly distanced himself from his party's standard-bearer, Marrow responded by saying he "does not support tax increases" (Waynesboro News-Virginian).
Deeds has felt the need to make clear his belief in higher taxes following his embarrassing performance in the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce debate last week. Immediately following the debate, Deeds held forth with the press corps in a disastrous exchange that resulted in a YouTube video that is rapidly approaching 50,000 views in one week's time. The Fairfax Chamber has since endorsed Republican Bob McDonnell for governor.
"With only about five weeks left until the election, we really need to know where these Democratic candidates stand on the Deeds tax increase," Mullins said. "It looks more and more like Creigh is out there on an island by himself, which tells me that not only does he have no firm plan for transportation, he's also not going to have a way to pay for it either."
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