The un-Constitutional FACTs

Stewardship should not only be a primary responsibility of government, it should be a general principle which spans party lines. But Virginia’s current government has thrown the principle of stewardship in the wastebasket.

Our Commonwealth’s Constitution clearly states: "No other or greater amount of tax or revenues shall, at any time, be levied than may be required for the necessary expenses of the government, or to pay the indebtedness of the Commonwealth."

Yet listen to American for Prosperity’s legislative report from February: “While Senate Finance approved $14.7 million in earmarks, House Appropriations approved a staggering $22.5 million in earmark projects. Both of these amounts are in excess of the nearly $37 million in pork-barrel earmarks approved last year.... Over the past decade, already over $200 million in taxpayer dollars has been spent on these pork-barrel earmarks for non-state agencies.”

This is why our taxes keep going up! Not because our government “needs” more revenues, but because our government is SPENDING more revenues. I am frustrated with this out-of-control budget, but excited that there is an alternative.

R. Scott Sayre, a new candidate for Senate in our district, has signed the America’s for Tax Reform’s “Taxpayer Protection Pledge,” a direct commitment to the taxpayers of our district that taxes do not need to be raised in order to balance our budget. The ’04 tax increases were imposed upon us during a time of a surplus, and then generated a new $1.3 billion surplus, but where has that gotten us? Where are the road improvements, the education improvements, the law enforcement improvements?

New taxes are not the answer, and are certainly not “reform”. The answer is prioritized spending, cutting unnecessary spending, and obeying the Virginia Constitution. The answer is Scott Sayre’s answer: “No new taxes.” We can run a budget on the same principle that we run a budget in our homes and businesses: Stewardship.

[Please copy the above and send it to your local paper! People need to know the FACTs]