Put Va. Ahead Of Politics

[Luke_Wilbur]

As the General Assembly session turns 100 days old today, the almost 7-year-old car tax issue has resurfaced as the hot-stove item that could be a key to resolving the drawn-out budget impasse.

 

Sen. H. Russell Potts Jr., R-Winchester, repeated his support for reinstating the car tax Wednesday, even as former Gov. James S. Gilmore III denounced the idea.

 

Gilmore, who was elected in 1997 largely because of a campaign that promised an incremental phaseout of the car tax, told the Richmond Times-Dispatch Tuesday, “It’s an outrage to even consider capping the car tax.”

 

“That’s the same former governor who met with the Republican Senate [in 1998] and promised [phasing out the car tax] would never cost more than $675 million,” Potts said. “Trust me, he said it will never cost more than $675 million.”

 

Following veto session talks Wednesday, Senate Finance Committee members discussed various methods of adjusting the car-tax relief program, which costs the state nearly $860 million annually — a figure that is expected to grow to more than $1.5 billion by the end of the decade.

 

The car-tax phaseout currently sits at about 70 percent.

 

Read More at:

 

http://www.winchesterstar.com/TheWincheste.../Area_potts.asp