Good article on SWVA and tax increases

[greencrest1272]

Let Them Pay Their Own Way

The median household income in Fairfax County in 1999 was $81,050. In Dickenson County it was $23,431. (link) And the people of Dickenson are paying for the people of Fairfax to get to work each morning.

God knows the government employees who live in Fairfax and who commute to Washington DC each day can afford to pay to get themselves there. Instead, we here in Southwest Virginia, where tax rates are now at such a level that area businesses are shutting down in droves because they cannot compete with low-tax countries like Singapore or low-tax states like Florida, help subsidize the rich folks' ride to work by funding the mass transit system there known as Metro.*

We here in Southwest Virginia are slowly coming to grips with the notion that what is needed to fix Northern Virginia - more tax revenue - will, if allowed to pass, have an adverse effect on Southwest Virginia - a decline in our already devastated economy. More taxes here translate into fewer employers and no career opportunities.

It seems a clear solution to this dilemma would be for those northern counties - if they need money for transportation improvements that will benefit only their citizens - to acquire tax revenue locally. The Virginia Senate proposed just that and a House committee turned it down. (Read about it here)

Now this is going to sound vindictive. But it is the northern counties of Virginia that overwhelmingly voted for our new governor who, as soon as he came into office, proposed the largest tax increase in the history of the commonwealth. The people of Fairfax and Arlington and Alexandria and Woodbridge and Prince William knew exactly what they were doing when they voted for the Democrat. Tim Kaine is only doing what Democrats always do. The people up north, in voting for the scoundrel, obviously were accepting of a greater tax burden. Fine for them.

But we don't need more of a burden here. We need more employers. And the way to attract employers is to enhance the potential for them to grow the bottom line by relocating to low-tax Southwest Virginia.

I watched the remake of "Bad News Bears" last night on DVD. In one scene, Coach Buttermaker pulls a small, frail player aside as the little fella is going up to bat and the coach tells him to lean into the pitch in order to have the ball hit him, so that he could get on base. "Take one for the team," he said to his player. The player did. And I felt his pain. The second time he came up to bat, though, he was again told to sacrifice himself, but this time the player said to himself, "that's enough of that" and instead swung for the fences. I cheered for him.

We in Southwest Virginia have been team players long enough. We've been told over and over again to "take one for the team." The people here have been battered beyond their endurance. We've leaned into more than our share of pitches in order to benefit the folks up north. We're not doing it any more.

As for the rest of you, get beaned again if you so choose. As for us, we're now inclined to take the bat, beat the coach, and ask for new leadership and a different strategy; one that benefits the entire team.

* The mass transit system in Southwest Virginia involves U-Haul rentals to take displaced workers north.

(author unknown)

[imported_burrhead]

We are the bottom feeders. With the Democrat governor, expect the air to be taxed. You heard it here first!!!!!!!!!!!

[Monkeyhead]

What are you talking about, Democrats know everything, and are the best thing that ever happened to this area [img]/LDPforum/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Check to see if the school state funding is split up according to the county tax base or if Dick-enson's County is expecting to have to pay for their own schools- if you guys can FIGURE a way to spend the FREE funding. And the comment about the bluegrass singer the other day, sorta makes the case for all the rich politicans in the country that never really worked. Time they gave something back.

[greencrest1272]

Have you been in a Dickenson County school or Wise County school for that matter? Man they are just giving us so much money from these taxes that we dont know what to do with it all. Hell, our facilities are so modern and up to date that we ortta just give the state some money instead of them giving us money. Please...open your eyes man.

[Monkeyhead]

Always remember, when it comes to gov't nothing is free [img]/LDPforum/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

You really have NO idea how much money comes from this end of the state do you? [img]/LDPforum/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] It might not be enough, but it ain't equal, [img]/LDPforum/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] Come on and take a free ride , yeah yeah yeah.... you will have to find the funding formula for yourself. I ain't gonna paste this one for you. And the money for DC schools is there, they just can't get in the mood to spend it. Better hurry, keep screwing around- that was one of the programs Bush targeted to cut , I did paste that for you, and somebody re-did the forum history. [img]/LDPforum/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] PS I paid better than 10,000 dollars fed and state tax, tell me why it was a "couch sitting, beer swilling dem" (no [img]/LDPforum/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]it wasn't you that used that phrase)when I complained about the jobs and the unfair spending and now now you make the SAME complaint? [img]/LDPforum/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

And by the way ,if you want us to read the links- you will have to put in ones that work, see the news at 11:00. [img]/LDPforum/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[greencrest1272]

The thing about it is we all pay the outrageous taxes that the Democrats love to inflict on us, but yet we see absolutely none of the money. If you have been on any road or in any school in Dickenson, Wise, or Buchanon counties, it will become very obvious that money isnt coming to us.

[friedtaters]

As some say, "Virginia ends at Roanoke"