Douglas Day wrote the message appended below.

Though this is the improper forum to address these current political
issues(though I have a 1780s parallel below) since the comments were made to
the list, with a very broad readership, I have these comments on the appeal
to voters of the car tax repeal, and which economic groups provided the power
in the voting booth. . The situation was that if you had a new car your tax
could be $700 or more a year.  This came due at the same time every year.
That's a fairly big chunk of change, and momentum was built supported by most
voters, but targeted to appeal to the broadest voting population-- the middle
class..  If you own a home (the other largest piece of personal property) and
have a mortgage, then the annual blow is cushioned by monthly deductions.
Same goes for your auto insurance (which in most cases exceeded the car tax)
If you own your home outright (lucky devils) then you have probably budgeted
for it.

I don't think there is any difference in the "collective ethnic makeup"
literacy, per income that explains this   and as a Virginian I think this is
very misleading to make the suggestion that Virginia's demographics are
responsible..  The less fortunate amongst us simply don't have the kind of
auto power with the largest taxes to have provided fuel for this fire..  The
car tax repeal was not driven by the Virginia's population percentage that
could be termed economically disadvantaged as implied, but by middle class
and beyond voters .  As a rule, I would argue that those of us who are not so
well-off understand perhaps more clearly than other economic groups the
relationship between state,local,government "income" and services they
benefit from.

I question the suggestion below that the less well-off amongst us Virginians
are in ANY WAY the reason of impetus for the repeal of the car tax or for the
state's budget problems...except for the fact that they (statistics show I
believe) were less likely to be represented on election day at the polls.
Voting against tax cuts unfortunately is not popular amongst any of us.

Getting back to this list and parallels 220 or so years ago in Virginia, I
have always wondered about the politics behind the removal from personal tax
lists of STUD HORSES, "WHEELS" (phaetons, curricles  == car tax) and BILLIARD
TABLES--all luxury items.  Does anyone know which individuals were behind
that decision...and it WAS a decision by someone?

We are experiencing the same thing on a national level with budget
problems...and again we have a tax cut (not led by the economically
disadvantaged) which is "partly" to blame.  Whenever you cut taxes this is
the risk.

FYI, I don't support tax cuts as a rule.  Our nation and states just have way
too much at stake.  We have too many important demands for basic services
from which we all benefit that are not being addressed...AND these needs  are
represented unequally on all levels.

Think about the state of maintenance of interstate 64, which begins in
Lexington VA.  I drove it all the way to St. Louis last year.  It is pretty
good in Virginia, spectacular in West Virginia (and who is chairman of the
Senate Appropriations Committe?), then you get to Kentucky and it takes a
nose dive.  You get to Indiana, and you are dealing most of the time with
cement/concrete road, with the truck lanes occasionally resurfaced with
asphalt.

I actually really AM interested in the removal of studs, wheels and billiard
tables from personal property tax -- though I suspect that it wasn't
particularly controversial given voter eligibility standards.

With my best regards,
Janet Hunter



In a message dated 10/20/2002 7:59:57 AM Eastern Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:


> I agree with Janet that Virginians
> who vote (or who don't) have only themselves to blame.  As historians
> (loosely defined, since some of us on the list are geneologists,
> folklorists, or from other disciplines) we should be trying to figure
> out what it is about the electorate that makes us particularly
> vulnerable to such obvious pandering.  Why are Virginains, who, as I
> think I've heard, have one of the lowest per capita tax rates in the
> nation, so reflexively against progressive taxation?  Is it something
> about our collective ethnic make-up, our literacy levels, what?
>



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