In Defense Of The Car Tax Cut

From the latest Gilmore for Senate “Political Director’s Update,” a clear defense of Gilmore’s record…

Car Tax Facts

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:

Governor Gilmore phased out 70 percent of the car tax during his term as Governor. The 4th and final car tax cut of the remaining 30 percent was supposed to happen under Mark Warner but he blocked it, claiming the state could not afford to finish the car tax cut — just as he claimed the state had a budget mess when he raised taxes by $1.4 billion.

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.