Majority of Virginians support tax break lapse for those earning $250,000 or more

A new poll conducted by Quinnipiac University[1] in Virginia and released on Thursday found that 59% of Virginians polled supported President Obama’s proposal to allow tax breaks lapse for Americans making more than $250,000 a year.[2]

In other words, a majority of Virginians polled approved of higher taxes for households making $250,000 or more if it would shrink America’s budget deficit. Only 36% were opposed.

The survey’s margin of sampling error was plus or minus 2.4 percentage points.

With a relatively conservative electorate like Virginia’s, the results should come as a healthy signal to President Obama that his tax policies for America’s wealthy are headed down the right path. That is, if a majority of Virginian’s agree with President Obama’s supposedly liberal tax policies, then one could argue that the same beliefs could also be applied to most of the country.

The results of this new Quinnipiac poll also imply that the majority of Virginians feel that wealthy Americans are not paying their fair share towards our nation’s recovery from the trenches of debt. This should embolden lawmakers, at least in Virginia, to more aggressively push for Bush-era tax break lapses for American’s earning $250,000 or more a year.

That said, current income tax levels for all Americans are simply too high. When I put myself in someone’s shoes who pays between 28% and 35% in income tax[3], I can well understand why tax avoidance is such a big business in America[4]. Whether you consider yourself a liberal or a conservative, it must be admitted that this is a big chunk of change being taken.

Another way to look at it is like working for free for a third of the year.

I don’t question the idea that the wealthy of America should pay a larger percentage in taxes. It was the structure of our free market system that allowed these individuals to gain their wealth, after all. I do, however, question the high rates by which wealthy individuals and households are supposed to be taxed at, pre-Bush tax cut levels[5].

Two policy goals must therefore be considered. First, lowering the income tax rate levels that were in place prior to the Bush-tax cuts. Second, making better use of the fewer taxpayer dollars that will be entering the government system as a result of lower income tax rates.

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[1] http://www.quinnipiac.edu/institutes-and-centers/polling-institute

[2] http://www.nbc12.com/story/19063400/majority-backs-tax-boost-for-250k-plus-earners

[3] http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/federal-income-irs-tax-brackets.html

[4] http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/u-tax-rates-high-tax-avoidance-growth-industry-152211085.html

[5] http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/t/taxation/bush_tax_cuts/index.html

Gov. McDonnell cancels exclusive Republican news conference while sequestration lingers

Bob “didn’t mean to do that” McDonnell backtracked on yet another move when he made the obvious decision to cancel an exclusively Republican news conference scheduled for July 18.[1] The decision by McDonnell to cancel the Republican-only news conference came after Democrats from Virginia agreed to skip a meeting of the state’s congressional delegation and McDonnell.[2]

Even though the governor’s spokesman Tucker Martin proclaimed that McDonnell is “committed to holding a bipartisan joint delegation meeting,” the Democrats decided to take no part in it. According to a joint statement by U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner (D-VA), Jim Webb (D-VA), and Reps. Jim Moran (D-8^th), Robert C. Scott (D-3^rd), and Gerald E. Connolly (D-11^th), “Today’s delegation meeting was derailed by Republican efforts to apply a partisan spin to the discussion and to the issues that face us.”[3]

The joint statement went on to explain that, “For decades, the Virginia congressional delegation has had a tradition of productive, bipartisan meetings with a long line of recent governors, Republican and Democrat.”

Who would have thought that members of the Republican Party would turn tradition on its head for political gain? Shocking!

But the bottom line is that Virginia’s congressional members need to hammer out ways to avoid the looming sequestration[4] that would, as Eric Cantor rightly pointed out[5], cripple Virginia’s prospects for job creation and damage the Virginia economy.

It’s true that in our present toxic political environment, it’s difficult for leaders to emerge. But if Virginia and the rest of the country’s congressional leaders intend to save our economy from an unnecessary economic hit, they’ll have to find a way to come together and work out a compromise solution. That will mean laying politics aside momentarily for the good of the country, as radical of an idea as it seems.

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[1] http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2012/jul/18/6/va-democratic-congressmen-skip-meeting-mcdonnell-c-ar-2066452/

[2] http://thehill.com/homenews/news/238751-mcdonnell-cantor-press-event-leads-to-uproar-in-va-delegation

[3] http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2012/jul/18/6/va-democratic-congressmen-skip-meeting-mcdonnell-c-ar-2066452/

[4] http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/19/us-usa-debt-congress-idUSBRE86I0RZ20120719

[5] http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2012/jul/18/6/va-democratic-congressmen-skip-meeting-mcdonnell-c-ar-2066452/

Romney’s new friend in Virginia Cuccinelli and a penchant for secrecy the public can’t trust

It shouldn’t have come as a surprise that the careerist politician, Ken Cuccinelli, became Mitt Romney’s latest attack dog in Virginia.[1] In fact, Cuccinelli was chosen for this role instead of Romney’s own Virginia campaign chairman, Virginia Lt. Governor Bill Bolling, or the potential vice presidential candidate Bob McDonnell.

So what if Cuccinelli once referred to Romney as “Democrat light,”[2] a career politician’s words are only meaningful in the moment they’re spoken.[3]

Cuccinelli has insisted that his support of Mitt Romney won’t muddy his own conservative principles. But how exactly does politically supporting somebody whose views you’ve publicly denounced, whose views appear almost diametrically opposite, not compromise your principles?

The attorney general’s argument now is that Romney is better than Obama, quite the ringing endorsement.

What is surprising is that Obama attackers will stay on point with the Solyndra theme, that is, the president has “handed out” millions of taxpayer dollars to companies that ultimately failed, a sum which Mitt Romney probably has floating somewhere in an offshore bank account, tax free.[4]

So far, Team Romney appears to think that this message has been a success, otherwise they wouldn’t be pounding away at it again.

Regardless of how inept or unlucky President Obama’s investment in Solyndra may have been, at least the public has been made aware that such an investment took place. Who can say how many investments Romney has floundered on as governor of Massachusetts or as a manager at Bain Capital[5]? No one really can because Romney has shrouded as much of his public and private decisions as possible to avoid any such criticism.[6]

Like any man, President Obama has faults, but unlike Romney he doesn’t make it a profession to hide those faults at every turn. 

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[1] http://washingtonexaminer.com/cuccinelli-steps-up-for-romney-allen-in-virginia/article/2502309

[2] http://washingtonexaminer.com/cuccinelli-steps-up-for-romney-allen-in-virginia/article/2502309

[3] http://article.wn.com/view/2012/03/16/Morning_ReadCuccinelli_Electing_Romney_Would_Be_Giving_Up_On/

[4] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sanjay-sanghoee/romney-offshore-tax-havens_b_1664722.html?utm_hp_ref=elections-2012

[5] http://www.biography.com/people/mitt-romney-241055

[6] http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/18/us-usa-campaign-secrets-idUSBRE86G0Z420120718

AG Cuccinelli declines to support less restrictive regulations for existing abortion clinics

When women’s rights advocates denounced Virginia’s new abortion clinic building regulations as political moves to throw these clinics out of business, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s recent rejection of new and less onerous abortion clinic regulations seemed to confirm their suspicions[1].

Last month, the Virginia Board of Health passed, on a 7-4 vote[2], new abortion clinic regulations that would have “grandfathered” in existing clinics, effectively allowing them to sidestep expensive renovation requirements.

And so the war on women by Virginia’s top Republican Party brass continues in an unveiled effort to undermine all abortion clinics in the commonwealth. As ProgressVA’s executive director, Anna Scholl, pointed out, “The only thing Cuccinelli is advocating for is shutting down women’s health clinics and preventing thousands of Virginia women from accessing safe and legal reproductive health care.”[3]

The question is not whether some Virginia women will have abortions because we know they will.[4] The question is how the state of Virginia can better care for those women who do choose to have abortions. 

Does Virginia essentially force women to have illegal and unsafe abortions or does the state offer some measure of appropriate and legal health care?

This is to say that the claims made by Cuccinelli and Gov. Bob McDonnell to do what’s best for Virginians[5] stand in stark contrast to their attempts to put up unnecessarily restrictive barriers for Virginia women to receive abortions. 

Their first priority, then, doesn’t seem to be the health of Virginia’s women. Instead, their first priority appears to be staying true to their conservative ideologies to maintain the support of their conservative base, even if the price for women in Virginia is steep.

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[1] http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/virginia-politics/2012/jul/17/tdmain01-cuccinelli-wont-certify-abortion-clinic-r-ar-2061882/

[2] http://www.msmagazine.com/news/uswirestory.asp?ID=13718

[3] http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/virginia-politics/2012/jul/17/tdmain01-cuccinelli-wont-certify-abortion-clinic-r-ar-2061882/

[4] http://www.statehealthfacts.org/profileind.jsp?sub=111&rgn=48&cat=10

[5] http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/virginia-politics/2012/jul/11/tdmet01-mcdonnell-wants-more-answers-on-health-car-ar-2048000/

McDonnell’s call for President Obama to lead an unrealistic politically motivated statement

During Sunday’s “State of the Union” show on CNN, Gov. Bob McDonnell “urged” President Obama to keep Congress in session to prevent a sequestration that would cut hundreds of billions from the defense budget.[1] The first portion of the $500 billion in defense cuts is scheduled for January 2.

There are two major problems with McDonnell’s statement, however. First, it is his own Republican Party member, Eric Cantor (among others), who is assiduously working to axe, or “scrub,” the defense budget to sharpen his conservative credentials.[2] Thus, if McDonnell is really concerned about halting defense cuts, he better have a chat with his Republican colleague.

Second, Bob McDonnell is fully aware that the do-nothing Congress will reject any moves that President Obama takes to lead the policy discussion for their own political ends. That is, the majority of Republicans in Congress have made a point to oppose any action that President Obama takes. It’s difficult to lead when all of your soldiers are mutineers.

Instead of the sequester being used as motivation to move towards a compromise position[3] on politically divisive issues, it is being used by both political parties as a whipping horse to win ideological cookie points before this fall’s round of elections.[4]  

Real political leaders look for solutions, however, not call on others to take roads that have already been tried and failed. McDonnell could do his country and his political career a favor by urging his Republican colleagues to put down their ideological battle-axes and do what’s best for the country, not their own political careers. It might not be the easiest move, but leaders don’t always tread down the easy paths.

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[1] http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/virginia-politics/2012/jul/16/tdmet02-mcdonnell-urges-obama-congress-to-prevent--ar-2059459/

[2] http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/03/31/eric_cantor_wants_you_to_cut_the_defense_budget

[3] http://csis.org/publication/ending-threat-sequestration-and-national-game-chicken

[4] http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0712/78406_Page2.html

Bolling’s “mental hospital” comment speaks the TRUTH about the VA Republican Party

Not only do many within Virginia’s Republican Party like to ignore the facts, they’ve made it a profession to demonize those who do not agree with their warped policy positions. The most notorious example is perhaps Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli. Now, Virginia’s Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling has stepped into the ring to contend with other VA GOP members for the most asinine statements.

In an interview on Saturday with the Daily Press, Bolling commented that if Virginians believe that President Obama has done well so far as president then they should vote for him and then “check themselves into a mental hospital.”[1] It would appear to Bolling then that a great many Virginians are mentally ill.

Bolling was focusing on “how the economy works” when he made this statement, essentially dismissing President Obama’s economic policies. But while Bolling was eager to call President Obama out, he was, like many of his VA GOP colleagues, short on facts.

In point of fact, President Obama’s economic policies helped to drop the bleeding job loss figures that the last President Bush left behind at the end of his second term.[2] For instance, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that without the Recovery Act, unemployment would have been over 1 percent higher in2010.

The point is, Virginia’s Republicans have become comfortable throwing out the big lie without being pressed or feeling pressed to justify their policy assertions.

Yes, Ronald Reagan did raise taxes.[3] Yes, President Obama has thrown his support behind sustaining the Bush tax cuts.[4]

While these are plain truths, these and many others are consistently ignored for political ends that do little else than darken the air for factual democratic debate.

For the sake of our democracy, nothing should stand in the way of the truth. But for many Republicans in Virginia, truth is just another bit of information to be molded to  reach one’s political ends.

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[1] http://www.dailypress.com/news/breaking/dp-nws-obama-henrico-visit-20120715,0,554282.story

[2] http://www.epi.org/publication/president-obama-policies-economic-recovery/

[3] http://mises.org/freemarket_detail.aspx?control=488

[4] http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20026069-503544.html

President Obama’s visit to Hampton highlights his support for America’s middle class

As the backbone of America’s democratic form of government (and arguably any democratic form of government), the middle class should have a prominent if not domineering place in our political system. 

However, America’s middle class has been hit hard over the course of the 21^st Century,[1] leaving folks like myself to question whether or not America’s middle class is a dying breed.

While President Obama was in Hampton, Virginia on Friday, he again said that his administration would stand up for America’s middle class. Obama stated, “Our mission right now is to put people back to work and recover from this recession.”[2] In more ways than not, Obama has fulfilled his promise of supporting America’s middle class.[3]

While President Obama and the Democratic Party in general still have work to do on this front, the Republican Party has all but abandoned the middle class[4] for the business Brahman types exemplified by Mitt Romney.[5] The where, the when, the why, and the how this came to pass is unclear. What isn’t unclear however is that a Mitt Romney presidential victory or even a George Allen win in the current U.S. Senate race in Virginia would be a setback for America’s and Virginia’s middle class.

Just how big the setback would be if Romney accedes to the White House remains up in the air because Team Romney has yet to publicly release any specifics about his economic policies.[6] Perhaps it’s a sign of campaign disorganization, or perhaps it’s a sign that Team Romney is uncertain how it will toe the political line between appearing to support the middle class and benefiting his super wealthy friends.

Or maybe the middle class of America is another unnecessary outlay to Romney that can be chopped up and downsized to turn a handsome profit for himself and his cronies?

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[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/16/us/middle-class-areas-shrink-as-income-gap-grows-report-finds.html

[2] http://www.dailypress.com/news/breaking/dp-nws-obama-hampton-main-20120713,0,1229156.story

[3] http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/09/politics/obama-bush-tax-cuts/index.html

[4] http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/how-the-gop-became-the-party-of-the-rich-20111109

[5] http://politicalwire.com/archives/2012/07/13/romney_admitted_in_2002_he_never_cut_ties_to_bain.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+PoliticalWire+%28Political+Wire%29

[6] http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/237169-when-will-romney-get-specific-party-worries