Unable to defend his own bad policies, Ralph Northam and his liberal allies are attacking Ed’s plan to cut taxes, saying it would lead to devastating cuts to public education. That’s patently false.
Ed’s plan is responsibly phased in and fully funded within existing revenue growth, preserving $2 billion in projected growth for new spending over the next five years. The tax relief would amount to $1.4 billion in revenue not taken from taxpayers, but would still increase revenue by $2 billion according to the projections according to the projections for the revenue estimates, that’s over a five year period.
Over the next five years in the Commonwealth, we’re projecting $3.4 billion in increased revenue. Ed’s proposing to increase spending by $2 billion, but for every three dollars that we increase spending let’s allow for hardworking Virginians to keep two dollars in their pocket, not send it to Richmond. We can cut taxes and keep our commitments to education, transportation, health care, public safety, and other core government services.
In a June interview with WVTF, Ed said:
“I put forward a plan to bring down our individual income tax rates by 10 percent across the board. It will be phased in over three years. We could still increase funding for core government functions like law enforcement, transportation and education.” (WVTF, 6/7/17)
In order to protect core government functions as well as not jeopardize our AAA bond rating, Ed embraced revenue triggers in his plan. If that $3.4 billion in projected growth does not materialize, Virginia would either slow down the phasing in of the tax relief or it just wouldn’t come. Ed’s plan protects public education first before allowing for the tax relief to kick in. 11 other states have used that safeguard and had triggers for their tax relief and they have worked well.
Ed’s plan will provide the first income tax rate cut since rates were established in 1972. It will spark natural, organic economic growth to diversify our economy and put Virginia on a path toward meaningful local business tax reform. An independent econometric analysis of this plan concluded that it would result in the creation of more than 53,000 good-paying, full-time, private-sector jobs all across Virginia; that’s a twenty-five percent increase over current projections.
