What?



Janet Hunter wrote:
>
> 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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