There’s a Hole in the Budget, Dear Marky, Dear Marky

Where Have All the Taxes Gone?

The Right Wing Liberal has a fantastic analysis of what happened with the revenue that came to the Commonwealth of Virginia after the sales tax hike of 2004. Then Governor Mark Warner, with the help of General Assembly Democrats and enough left-leaning Republicans, achieved enough of a majority to raise the Virginia sales from 4.5% to 5%. Of course, at the time, we were all told how the money was needed for road construction, for schools, etc.

Of course, this failed to happen, and the jurisdiction that pays the most, Fairfax County, got penalized the most. Instead, most of the money was used for the expansion of various social programs. If the money were used more efficiently, services would have been delivered more efficiently to those who needed them, we would have had money for roads, and we still would not have needed the sales tax increase!

Once again, this serves as a warning to people in other States. I know that Maryland and New Jersey raised their sales taxes recently. Don’t you wonder where all that money is really going also?