Who says bipartisanship is dead at the Virginia General Assembly?
Del. David L. Englin, D-Alexandria, wouldn't have been surprised to find his legislation on the Virginia Conservative Caucus's hit list. He was taken aback last week to find the caucus supporting one of his bills.
Englin, a liberal and co-founder of the Progressive Caucus, is sponsoring House Bill 1032, which would put five-year limits on any new or expanded tax credits.
As it turns out, Del. Benjamin L. Cline, R-Rockbridge, co-chairman of the Conservative Caucus, had the same idea.
Cline's House Bill 246 would implement the same five-year sunset provision while requiring the state tax commissioner to annually report the estimated revenue loss of each state tax credit scheduled to expire within the next two years.
"It's unusual," Cline said of his partnership with Englin at an equally unlikely joint news conference Wednesday.
Added Englin: "Whenever the most conservative and the most liberal members of the General Assembly see eye-to-eye on something, I think it's newsworthy, and I think it's something that people should sit up and pay attention to."
Cline said the sunsets would force legislators "to look more closely at (a tax break's) success rate and whether they deserve to be renewed or not," and provide greater transparency while forcing periodic review.
According to a recent draft report by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission, in 2008 the state had 187 tax preferences with a price of $12.5 billion in lost revenue.
"In that same year, those same taxes brought in $14.3 billion," Englin said. "That means that in theory, we could eliminate all those preferences, close all those loopholes and giveaways, and actually cut taxes and still end up with more revenue for core services in the commonwealth."
The JLARC report showed that only 20 of those include reporting and evaluation of their cost and effectiveness, while 131 receive no regular oversight.
Cline and Englin said that they view the legislation as a first step.
"Eventually we hope to start evaluating and analyzing the existing credits that are out there," Cline said, adding that he hopes to gain Gov. Bob McDonnell's support for the bill.
J. Tucker Martin, a spokesman for McDonnell, said that the governor would review the legislation if it clears the legislature, adding that he has "long advocated for both greater transparency in state government and a simpler and fairer tax system."
Asked about the measure last week, McDonnell stressed the need for a comprehensive overhaul of the state's tax code, but not this year.
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