Posted on 02/28/2013 9:20:22 PM PST by Mozilla
"Conservative" does not mean the same thing as "pro-business," as Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell has demonstrated.
McDonnell -- whose three-year record is mostly characterized by conservative policies -- this week won the largest tax hike in state history and a package of new spending on transportation. Cheering him on was Virginia's business lobby.
The tax-hike-and-roads package fits well into a pattern of McDonnell veering from his conservative principles when the business lobby wants more government. McDonnell, for instance, has subsidized favored businesses and industries through tax credits and special incentives. Also, Virginia's dependence on the military-industrial complex and the "Beltway Bandit" federal contractors has made McDonnell a leading critic of the sequester, which would reduce the federal deficit through spending cuts.
The transportation bill McDonnell supports would hike sales taxes to 6 percent in Northern Virginia (up from 5 percent), rejigger the gas tax and index it to inflation and increase taxes on home sales. This tax revenue, along with more money from the general fund, will provide what the Fairfax Chamber of Commerce calls a "sustainable fund" for transportation, with the hope of alleviating traffic congestion.
McDonnell's office, to defend the tax-and-pave plan, kept a list of businesses supporting it.
(Excerpt) Read more at aei.org ...
McDonnell, Christie, Rubio, Scott - the Republican hopefuls for 2016 are falling out pretty quickly.
Yeah they are and it is becoming hard to support anyone as they all cave.
Yep. McDonnell’s off my list. He’s showing his colors as a RINO. Too bad. Go stand in the corner with Christie now.
TC
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