Beltway Bezerkers?

I know that many people on staff at the Free Lance-Star get the chance to write the editorials that appear daily, but today’s was a bit over the top.

In a new report, which ranks state and local tax burdens as a percentage of income in the 50 states, the foundation puts Virginia at No. 37–down a notch since 1999. “Over the past 14 years,” adds the foundation’s Web site, “Virginia’s tax burden has consistently been among the lowest in the nation.” State and local taxes, the low-tax advocacy group figures, take 9.3 percent of Virginians’ income, versus a national average of 10 percent.

This datum, based largely on federal reports and echoing the findings of the nonprofit Federation of Tax Administrators, helps clear up a debate between GOP anti-tax zealots and their conservative brethren (that is, Republicans who would conserve Virginia’s civic resources and its manifold reputation for excellence). The former claim that Virginia is already a borderline high-tax state and that the revenues sought by the Senate ($2.4 billion over two years) would make us the New York of the South. The latter argue that the Old Dominion’s levies are low and that spending what’s needed to boost and maintain the state’s educational, health, and transportation assets would leave our tax load still moderate.

The Tax Foundation, weighing only state and local taxes, supports Main Street Republicans. For example, Virginia’s corporate taxes are the ninth lowest nationally; in 2001, only nine states raked in less per-capita from these firms. Virginia’s gas tax ranks 37th, and its 2.5-cent-per-pack tax on cigarettes–raised 30 cents under the House plan narrowly approved Tuesday–is infamously 50th. Most telling is our sales-tax standing. Of the 46 states with such a tax, just nine have rates lower than Virginia’s 4.5 cents on the dollar, while 33 impose higher rates. Does any of this sound like the Virginia taxpayer is being skinned alive?

Yes it does.

The false premise of the argument here is that the writer assumes that the 50th percentile should be the goal for taxation levels in the Commonwealth. Not so. We shouldn’t be arguing for mediocrity or a moderately-taxed tax base. Rather, Virginians have come to expect nothing short of economic excellence from our state and local government, and a low level of taxation is key.

Rather than bemoan the fact that Virginia ranks 37th in its tax burden on working families, we should not only be celebrating the fact – we should be pushing lower and asking why other states refuse to get with the program.

Average shouldn’t be the goal. Excellence should be, and taxpayers in Virginia have consistently demanded low tax rates, not “better services” or the a tax ranking of 24th.