[Dear reader, over the last few years I have faithfully printed this article and sent it off into the dark crevasses of the Virginia General Assembly. To report that the response has been underwhelming, would be an exaggeration.
I’m always amazed that a member or a candidate, or a coalition of either, hasn’t seized this issue for both political and practical reasons to argue for genuine reform of a government genuinely in need of reform. In November, 2017 Virginians will elect a new governor and a new House of Delegates. This would be an interesting question to pose to every candidate, and would tell voters who wanted to reform government, and who simply wanted to be the government. MG]
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King Solomon in Ecclesiastes reminded us 3,000 years ago that “There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens.”
In his list, the King added, “a time to keep and a time to cast away.”
Which brings me to the Virginia General Assembly, meeting next month in Richmond to chart the future of the Commonwealth.
Virginia, like most states, can never find enough money in the budget because, by and large, its politicians, like all politicians, can’t resist spending other people’s money. The state’s budget has grown like ragweed, essentially doubling in the last fifteen years, substantially faster than both inflation and population growth. Of course, it still hasn’t been enough.
Never is.
Only a few years ago in 2013, already in the middle of a spending binge, Gov. Bob McDonnell and a lot of self-proclaimed “conservatives” – all of whom promised not to raise taxes – pushed through a hodgepodge $6 billion tax increase that was for “transportation” – sort of. Kind of. Maybe.
It is simply the human condition; unless you are spending your own money, the value of someone else’s money diminishes in proportion to their ability to stop you, and the suggested moral superiority assigned to the purported purposes for its use.
Everyone has their own favorite idea for how to “fix” the budget – any budget; and there are as many economic arguments (all documented with statistics hanging like stalactites in Luray Caverns) as there are economists.
Here’s mine: Eliminate Virginia’s personal and corporate income tax. Yep, don’t lower them – abolish them. Zero. Nada.
This is born out of the firm belief that taxes and budgets are a people problem, not a political problem. The only solution for the taxpayer is to restrict, constrict, hobble, bind, and deny politicians the means to spend money. That takes a lot of discipline on the part of the frazzled citizens trying to attend to their own affairs.
My idea would be to follow the example of states like Texas and Florida (seven states currently have no income tax). Drop – eliminate the income tax and business income tax, and establish a fixed state sales tax percentage, and then allow the various counties the flexibility to add any amount from zero to 1%.
For businesses, go to a flat tax on assets.
Others can argue about the budget numbers and the merits of any given program, but at the end of the day if the General Assembly doesn’t have enough revenue and had to cut a budget, instead of spend, well that would be the whole point!
Removing the income tax and replacing it with a straight tax on consumption, to my mind, is an issue of both morality and economic growth for Virginia.
The moral issue is paramount. A laborer is entitled to his wages.
The best use of personal money for the vast majority of us is to support our families, and provide for their maintenance. It is the foundational responsibility of the individual (no, it ain’t the village) to care for, educate and prosper our families. This is a Biblical concept present throughout Scripture, and it is a commonsense issue that is obvious and easily observed in the human family.
As a practical matter, limiting the state government to a percent of its economy is fine thing and should be ferociously advanced. The politicians should have a floor and a ceiling to spend, and nothing more.
But eliminating the state income tax has positive economic possibilities for Virginia as well, since it is surrounded by states that have been hobbled by radical left-wingers.
The sucking sound you would hear if Virginia eliminated personal and corporate taxes (to quote Mr. Perot) would be the sound of businesses from nearby Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and even North Carolina, that would be trying to relocate or start businesses inside the borders of a state that was genuinely interested in the well being of its citizens, demonstrated by creating an environment for expanding jobs and personal opportunity.
How exceptional would that be?
The question is, of course, can this ever happen in Virginia? The answer is a question as well; are there enough citizens who are sick and tired of bloated and dysfunctional government (especially education spending), that can only grow and expand; never slimming, never pruning, never efficient, and always looking for ways to hogtie its citizens? And are there a handful of stand up members of the General Assembly willing to join us?
8 comments
Mike, since you were such an enthusiastic supporter of Trump, when do we see you writing about your thoughts on what has gone on in the world of Trump thus far?
I’d like to add one more item. Link spending to the sales tax and eliminate all public debt. That is, peg the previous year’s spending to the current year’s sales tax. Therefore, whenever the government wants some new goodies, the People feel the direct effect immediately. We would have a much better sense of how good/bad our government was doing in the near term instead of sloughing off our obligations on future generations.
Excellent article, but I do take exception on asset taxation because …
A tax on assets is a claim on property just as much as a tax called income is a claim on property called labor. The insidiousness of a tax on assets is that it is a claim on what already has been taxed, either directly by income or indirectly by sales or consumption tax. There is also the fact that an asset tax presumes a readily available means to pay the tax, BUT? BUT WHAT HAPPENS IF the economy tanks through no one’s fault, income shrivels to trickle, and yet a large sum is due to the taxing authority without sufficient means to pay? Or what happens in asset taxation if inflation outstrips real return, the asset tax is due, but there is not enough REAL INCOME to pay the tax, afford real capital replacement and still have enough eat on? The answer to these questions and to others like them should be self-evident.
The above objection by examples is exactly the reason why in the original American System of Government the state cannot have a claim upon property. That is, the right to property in the original American Law in the period of the constitutions was held to be unalienable. Unalienable undeniably means that the state cannot infringe upon property held by the people. Therefore assets, meaning property, cannot, ought not to be, cannot lawfully be taxed … or else unalienable right is tossed out the window.
You can argue this through the cracks, but the simple truth is that if the state has a claim on property, the people are then always open to, susceptible to ruination by the state taxing authority. The word confiscatory comes to mind, as does the rubric, “The right to tax is the right to destroy.”
This is why we are all really renters under the current system. If we don’t pay our rent (property tax) to the government, then they take our assets.
Bingo! And still worse, if you very closely examine the system of property ownership in all of the united States you will find that the people own very little property (if any). Instead, they have beneficial interest in property in trust. There is a reason why you are given, for allegedly paid in full real property, a Deed of TRUST. And this is just the tip of the iceberg.
On second thought, maybe we are the Deplorables because of our deplorable circumstances vis-a-vie property, real rights, ownership of government. The whole House of Cards is a house turned on it head.
OK, let’s hear from Ed Gillespie and Corey Stewart on this.
Why not do what VCDL does (& you kind of suggested yourself). Send a one question survey to each of the candidates and post the results here? In your introductory letter, mention that the results of the survey will be published in detail. Start the question with “Do you pledge to…” so that the implication is that you are serious about holding their feet to the fire and what they answer can later haunt them, if they renege.
You should run for office on a platform of replacing the income tax with a higher sales tax and see what people think of that idea.