A final budget containing tax increases would be a violation of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, a commitment which 27 Virginia legislators have made to "oppose and vote against any and all efforts to increase taxes."  To see  a list of legislators who have signed the Pledge, click here.  To see the letter from ATR stating that a vote for a budget containing tax increases would be a violation of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge for these members, click here.

Virgininia taxpayers have seen spending skyrocket by nearly 33% from 2002 to 2008.  The state government is spending almost $9 billion dollars more of taxpayer dollars.  As Governor McDonnell noted in his State of the Commonwealth address, state spending has grown well beyond the rate of population and inflation for quite some time, nearly tripling since he was first elected to public office in 1991.  These are symptoms of a spending problem, rather than a government taking too little from the people it represents.

The nation is broke. Most of the states are also broke or heading there quickly. When government grows the economy shrinks. The inverse is also true. The citizens of this country are not a bottomless well for government to tap into, by force, through taxation or any other means of thievery. The government must not just stop raising taxes; it must decrease them and drastically reduce its spending. Government does not have a profit and loss feedback mechanism so it nearly always misallocates resources away from real demand in an attempt to create utopias for deadbeats.
>> William Beers Friday, March 12, 2010 8:45 AM Report Comment