(Alexandria, VA) -- In light of a record surplus and billions of recent taxes piled on Virginia residents, John Berthoud, President of the 350,000-member National Taxpayers Union (NTU) offered the following statement. NTU has nearly 10,000 members in the Commonwealth:
"Virginia legislators just can't seem to stop meddling with a healthy economy that is producing budget surpluses. The Commonwealth finished last year with a revenue windfall of $557 million and over $1.1 billion in the budget stabilization fund. Talk of tax hikes shouldn't even be rising above a whisper with this much taxpayer cash already sitting in Richmond. In fact, lawmakers should be working to help reduce taxes, especially those triggered by rising property assessments.
Taxpayers are still all too familiar with the last round of tax increases enacted in 2004. Under Governor Mark Warner and a Republican Legislature, Virginia added $400 million more in sales taxes and close to $300 million in other taxes and fees. Residents later learned that the so-called fiscal crunch was only temporary and the Commonwealth could have opted for spending restraint over tapping taxpayers' wallets.
Virginia's unemployment rate is a miniscule 2.9 percent, well below the national average of 4.6 percent. Additionally, Virginia is consistently ranked as one of the most business-friendly states in the U.S. Nothing will change that ranking faster than piling on more unneeded taxes and fees. And again, unless Virginia's climbing property tax burdens can be tamed, the ranking is likely to begin slipping even without another round of tax hikes.
NTU and its 10,000 members in Virginia are unequivocally opposed to any tax increase. Increasing the budget stabilization fund as well as combating waste and low- priority spending are the priorities on which Richmond needs to focus. It's time to take tax hikes off of the table."
NTU is a non-profit, non-partisan citizen group working for lower taxes and smaller government at all levels. Note: For further information on NTU's work in Virginia, visit www.ntu.org.
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