They Can't Really be that Dumb

I've not written in a while -- laziness. But today's editorial in the Washington Post was either so dishonest or so stupid (or both) that I had to comment. The Post argues that because of the great transportation needs in NoVA, the GOP-lead General Assembly should have passed statewide tax increases.

Of course, any statewide tax increase results in Fairfax County residents sending dollars to Richmond in order to receive pennies back. Therefore, using the Post's logic, we would need to pay much more to improve our traffic mess with Kaine's approach than with the bill passed by the General Assembly.

How stupid are these people? Did anyone there ever taken a basic course in state and local government? Do these people ever read their own newspaper? Are they so liberal and committed to tax increases that facts are to be ignored? The money I save by not subscribing to the Post pays dividends daily.

Fairfax County Residents Are Their Own Worst Enemy

This is a repeat of a post I put on Baconsrebellion.com. It says what needs to be said, so I'm repeating it here.

Fairfax, Arlington and Loudoun, but not Prince William, regularly get hosed on state support for K-12 education. For example, according to Senator Chichester's committee staff, the Warner-Chichester tax increases cost Fairfax County taxpayers 107.8 M (net) for 2005. According to FCPS, it received less than $14 M in new money. The schools did receive more than $100 M in 2005 from the State, but that was related to the biennial re-benchmarking of the SOQs. That would have occurred even without the tax increases. The new money above and beyond the SOQ changes was less than $14 M. I asked. Thus, it cost $107 M to get an additional $14 M.

I understand that the situations for Arlington and Loudoun were quite similarly bleak. Prince William, on the other hand, does better under the formula and, as a result thereof, Prince William's senators and delegates have not been interested in rocking the boat. Do you blame them?

The fault lies with the rubes that live in NoVA, especially Fairfax County. We may think that we are smart, successful and sophisticated, but RoVA plays us for fools.

Very few Fairfax County residents, including our crackerjack business community, have the knowledge and understanding of the rules of the game to be successful. We rant and rave about the bad deal we get from Richmond on education funding, but then lobby vigorously for more of the same. Just as with transportation, there are many people in Fairfax County who think that gremlins fill the General Fund, rather than Fairfax County residents. They ask for more money from Richmond without understanding that they receive only cents on the dollar. Unless the sophisticates in RoVA are willing to take less (ha, ha), it costs us "rubes" dollars to get pennies. Yet, the typical resident of Fairfax County would support higher state taxes to get pennies back, rather than higher local taxes that at least stay here.

The Warner-Chichester tax increases may have been good for Virginia, but they were a disaster for Fairfax County. The legislators who voted for them know this and should be ashamed of themselves. Fortunately, their constituents are hicks and won't hold them accountable.