Not surprisingly, last week’s paper included a highly partisan editorial complaint that the majority party in Virginia’s legislature wants to raise taxes unnecessarily even though the minority party had done a wonderful job with the budget in previous years. I can’t take such statements seriously. No one simply wants to raise taxes without purpose, and the strong economic climate before 2025 made budgeting much easier. It is important to adjust to the massive loss of federal funds in 2026 leaving us with a very different and quite challenging budget situation this year. We also have a very different government this year. In addition to a Democrat governor, there was a massive change in the House of Delegates with 13 Republican seats becoming Democrat seats. Clearly, the majority of voting Virginians wanted government to do things differently. Many in our region didn’t like the political party change – but it is important to go forward knowing that the majority in our democracy wanted this change.
Simply complaining about taxes does not accomplish much. Instead, useful would be coming up with ideas to make up for loss of billions of dollars of federal funding. It seems clear that there are two ways to do this. One way is to cut programs. I wish it were required that anyone promoting a tax cut would also identify which programs are no longer going to be funded. Almost everyone likes paying fewer taxes, but almost everyone also enjoys good social programs too (would anyone complain about good schools or an effective fire department?). It is impossible to please everyone about the best tradeoff between taxes and programs. But only dealing with half of the issue – cut taxes! – does nothing to move us forward.
Another way to make up for the tremendous loss of federal support is to increase local funding. One way to do this is through taxes. That can mean increasing taxes, or attracting more business to Virginia that will pay taxes. I hope that any tax increase is clearly accompanied by details on what the money will be used for. To attract more business, consider that Virginia used to be rated as the best state in the nation to do business, with our rating dropping meaningfully last year. Perhaps our legislature can come up with good ideas to again strengthen our business environment? Is this something that representatives from both parties can help accomplish? It is important too to consider the lag between attracting business, and their contributing to our tax base.
Representatives from legislative minority parties can take a couple of different approaches to their jobs. All too often, they take the approach of simply bad-mouthing everything the other side is trying to do. Often too, they will try to introduce legislation that has no chance of passage, perhaps simply to justify their work to their followers. But they get nothing done. Sometimes though we see members of a minority party who actually make a difference! They find ways to move forward through compromise, and in generating ideas that both sides support. This is more difficult than saying no – but it shows someone really doing their job rather than just going through the motions. A good example of local nonpartisan work is the new rail connection almost completed in Christiansburg – both parties worked together. Let’s hope that we get more bipartisan ideas from our legislators, while also recognizing that the voters of Virgina overwhelmingly voted for change. Change will happen – will our local leaders help ensure that it helps everyone?
