“From beehives to spaceflight, from social engineering to coal mines, many special interest groups want a tax credit,” said Mark Daugherty, the chairman of the Virginia Tea Party Patriots Federation. “What they are looking for is a legal and financial advantage over fellow Virginians.”
Last November, a Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission study revealed that tax breaks favored select Virginia groups and individuals in 2008 in the amount of $12.5 billion, which is equal to 90 percent of the $14.3 billion in actual individual and sales taxes paid by Virginians.
“This year, our legislators have submitted over 90 new special-interest tax credit bills to the existing conga line of convoluted preferences and loopholes,” said Daugherty. “These special-interest tax breaks have now become a tax code within a tax code, adding complexity and inequality. It seems that the General Assembly wants to keep this under the radar as HB664, intended to shine the light on who is benefiting from these tax credits, was stopped in committee.”
“These carve outs represent the government picking winners and losers as well as a fundamental lack of fairness,” added Daugherty. “Virginians with the same income may end up paying vastly differing tax rates. Most egregious is the fact that a special-interest tax credit for a select group is a tax increase for every other Virginia taxpayer.”
Government spending in Virginia has grown at twice the population growth for the last decade. If the General Assembly repealed all special-interest tax preferences, and reduced Virginia income tax rates by a commensurate amount, the tax rates and Virginia sales taxes could be reduced by nearly 50 percent, the Tea Party Federation says, allowing Virginians to keep more of their hard-earned money.
Daugherty says, “We encourage Virginians to contact their delegate and senator and urge them to vote NO on the 2012 line-up of special-interest tax credits, ask them to initiate a process to cleanse special-interest tax credits from the Virginia Tax code and pass the savings on to Virginia taxpayers.”
The Virginia Tea Party Patriots Federation is a coalition of 41 independent Tea Party and patriot groups that stand for fiscal responsibility, Constitutionally-limited government, and free market principles.
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