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Barnie Day was a Democratic delegate from Patrick County from his election in 1997 through the 2001 session. A former county administrator and business owner, he is now a banker.
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Pale, forlorn, tax reform comes alone to the stage of Virginia politics this season. She has no real constituency, no core, nothing pure and natural to wish her well and cheer her on, yet she bids for legacy. How can this be?
Democrats and moderate Republicans, the ‘needs,’ the spending side of this pageant, have pinned their hopes on her and from behind the curtains shoved this shy dame front and center, beneath the harshness of the lights -- not quite an afterthought, so much, but more as a last resort.
They have coalesced loosely around shortfalls in education funding -- half a billion here, half a billion there -- and now peep expectantly from the curtain folds to see how she will do. They’re not wedded to her -- they don’t even know her name, just wish her well.
The front rows are filled with anti-taxers, the pledge signers, the ‘revenue neutral’ folks. Clothes lumpy, heavy with tomatoes and cabbages they hope to throw, they came early and now watch the box seats for a signal. Howell and Wardrup wait in the darkness there.
Special interests fill out the auditorium. They lean over the balcony rail, and jostle and crowd the standing room in the back ...
Perhaps more than any other factor, the lack of a constituency may well define the outcome of the current debate on tax reform. Make no mistake: there is a myriad of interests competing for the spoils of 'reform.' But aside from perhaps 10 editorial writers scattered across the state, very few are advocating reform for reform’s sake. Very few have taken up the cause of ‘fairness.’
In fact, let’s narrow that down. There is one: The Virginia Organizing Project.
Though this loose coalition of activists, some 6,000 strong state-wide, gives voice to the poor, and the dispossessed, and are perhaps the closest thing this show has to a real constituency, they can’t get in. For the moment, they stand outside on tiptoes, straining, listening beneath the windows.
A thought sidebar here: If ‘revenue-neutral’ carries the day, does that not imply simply a shifting of the burden from one set of backs to another? Will not the receiving backs see this additional burden as an increase? Of course they will.
Most of those with a stake in tax reform -- and we all have one, like it or not -- really see it as nothing more than a means-to-an-end proposition, somewhere on the ideology line between increased funding for education (the governor and his Democrats, and a few moderate Republicans) and more-of-my-money-in-my-pocket (Howell, Wardrup, and the anti-taxers).
Members of the Virginia Organizing Project, which brought 'living wage' into the political lexicon, don’t start from either baggage burdened position. They advocate no spending whatsoever. Nor do they bite of the ‘revenue neutral’ apple. Instead, they start from a premise of fairness -- and make several specific suggestions (and if you haven’t noticed, specifics are as rare in this one).
Among them:
>>Indexing of the income tax rate, beginning at 5% ( $30,000 and less) and maxing out at 7% ($100,000 and up)
>>A 2% increase in the corporate income tax
>>Broaden the sales tax to most services, excluding health, insurance and utilities, while eliminating the sales tax on food
What’s the bottom line on these and other recommendations? One and a half billion dollars additional revenue. Who decides the spending? Same folks deciding it now. What’s the model? Everybody gives a little bit. Nobody gets killed.
…The lights dim. The hubbub hushes. And the orchestra eases into a tune.
Can this lass sing? Can she dance? Has stage fright stricken her?
All wait expectantly.
Copyright 2003