Virginia General Assembly supports FEE hikes... YIKES

This morning we see the power of the tax and spend Virginia Senate... (and the willingness of the House to lay down)

The Democrat -controlled Senate's two-year spending plan includes about $326 million in fee hikes; the plan produced by the Republican-controlled House contains none.

While this is a good starting point, the Senate is ever the optimist with The Taxpayer's money

The Senate budget assumes about $223 million more in revenue than the House version does.

Then the RTD breaks the dam on governmental spending restraint in a down economy

The new House proposal embraces $76 million in fees -- there were none in the chamber's original budget -- and recommends splitting the difference with the Senate on a cash grab from the public-employee retirement fund.

The Republican-dominated House also offered to trim a proposed cash reserve to $100 million from $170 million, but it affirmed its opposition to unpaid days off, or furloughs, for state workers.

The Senate, with a Democratic majority, includes more than $200 million in fees in its budget, with about $50 million a year in additional costs for filing lawsuits and court actions.

Here is a good example of the restraint found in one chamber of the Virginia General Assembly. We give you Del. Johnny Joannou, D-Portsmouth

"What we've got to do first is find out how much money we have to spend, and the rest of it will fall into place,"

Say what?  Or this from Sen. R. Edward Houck  D-Spotslyvania always speaking from a government spending perspective and never The Taxpayer's...

"that's a huge hole there,"

So where is Governor McDonnell in all of this?

The governor said any new fee revenue must pass a three-pronged litmus test: The fee must not have been raised recently, it must have a connection to the government process to which it's being applied, and it can't exceed the cost of the service.

Ultimately, The Taxpayer understands that a fee should cover the service and supports that free market concept; HOWEVER, when both fees and taxes are used, We the People also know that supplanting tax dollars is the net shell game here. 

We agree with Delegate Kirk Cox when he said:

it is "dangerous" to discuss extending the 2010 General Assembly beyond the usual 60 days.