Letters: If Elected, Deeds Will Raise Taxes

If Elected, Deeds Will Raise Taxes
Editor, Times-Dispatch: In an astonishing display of duplicity, gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds has started running radio ads claiming that his opposing candidate, Bob McDonnell, has previously supported all sorts of tax increases on everything and that Deeds will be a champion of low taxes. This, after Deeds previously voted for the two biggest tax increases in Virginia's history. He voted for 19 separate tax hikes on just one day last year. He voted to raise the gas tax 30 percent back when gas was over $4 a gallon. In this campaign, Deeds has already gone on-record as supporting a gas tax increase if he is elected.

McDonnell is a true conservative. He has consistently supported low taxes and government prudence. Recently he put out a specific plan for addressing Virginia's transportation needs without raising taxes.

Deeds is a true tax-and-spend liberal. His only transportation plan is to raise the gasoline tax and then figure out how to spend the money.

Liberals can't be honest with the people about their high-tax, big-government policies, because then they wouldn't be elected. So they deceive.

President Barack Obama campaigned by saying he would cut taxes for 95 percent of the people. He has never proposed or voted for a tax reduction bill. When he lets the Bush tax cuts expire, almost everyone will see a tax increase. His trillions of dollars in new government spending can only be paid for with massive tax increases on everyone. He has supported tax increases to fund government-run health care.

Deeds is now trying to pull the same tax trick: Tell the people one thing, and after you get in office, do the exact opposite.

Don't fall for it.

Jessee Ring.
Pulaski.

His voting record supports that notion, as do his own words, such as, "Four out of five of my constituents would vote for gun control measures, but I didn't care." What Virginia voters need to ask themselves is: Do I really want to vote for someone who is quite comfortable ignoring the wishes of 80 percent of his constituents?

Supporting the Second Amendment is fine, but Cuccinelli has taken his love of gun rights way beyond the intentions of our Founding Fathers. Most Virginians support the right of law-abiding Americans to own firearms for their personal use, yet do not support this right being extended to felons, the severely mentally ill, domestic abusers, illegal aliens, and others who might use a gun to harm others.

Cuccinelli succeeded in changing Virginia law to allow online competency tests, which effectively allows individuals who have never handled or fired a handgun to obtain a permit to carry a concealed handgun in public. The senator voted against penalties for carrying guns in day-care centers, banning guns at the airport, and laws requiring safe storage. He voted in favor of gun manufacturers' immunity against prosecution, of restricting gun buybacks, and of allowing guns in restaurants that serve alcohol. Finally, he has consistently voted against requiring background checks on all sales at gun shows, even though polls show that a majority of Virginians support that idea.

Our attorney general needs to champion the legal rights of both gun owners and non-gun owners. Cuccinelli's record does not show that level of even-handedness.

Andrew Goddard.
Richmond.

It is difficult to understand why we would place requirements on industries in this country that our biggest economic competitors, China and India, refuse to accept. This is a global issue -- transferring pollution and jobs to foreign countries will not solve the problem.

The Waxman-Markey legislation -- if it passes in its current form -- will enact a national tax of historic proportions. While the tax will be levied directly on carbon-based energy, the impact will spread through the economy, increasing prices, reducing income, destroying jobs, and significantly expanding the national debt, which has grown so dramatically. An analysis by the Heritage Foundation found that gasoline prices will rise 58 percent from the baseline forecast. Electricity prices will rise 90 percent. American businesses will be forced to locate in foreign countries.

The economic projections are frightening. More than 14,000 jobs in Virginia will be lost. The state's coal mining payroll of over $800 million will be eliminated. Payroll taxes totaling $763 million will be lost. More than $7 billion in output by the mining industry will be lost.

I read in

The Times-Dispatch

that some of the governors attending the Southern Governors Association in Williamsburg recently shared my concerns about the costs of the Waxman-Markey legislation. The governors of Alabama and West Virginia said this legislation will penalize their states. West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin discussed how this legislation provides too little aid for clean coal technology -- one way our environment could be substantially improved. I agree with these governors. The Waxman-Markey legislation is too costly for Virginia. Elmon T. Gray, Senate of Virginia, 1972-1992.


Waverly.