2017 VA Governor's race: on Tax Reform


Frank Wagner: We need income tax for programs and AAA bond rating

Intelligent conservatives committed to good government and low taxes have thought about cutting the income tax for years. Unfortunately the income tax is a MAJOR source of income for the Commonwealth and it is a critical component of the revenue we need to balance the budget each year. Tinkering with the income tax has enormous long-term fiscal implications for a state with a AAA bond rating.

Ed Gillespie's tax plan is typical of a DC-insider and proves definitively that he doesn't know anything about state government or our obligations to Virginia families & businesses. This so-called tax plan is really a lazy political stunt.

Gillespie's idea to take 40% of the projected growth in revenue and set it aside for an income tax cut ignores the fact that we are required to deal with federally-mandated Medicaid payments; we have to reduce the cost of college tuition; and we have untold billions of dollars in mandated water quality improvements that must be completed.

Source: 2017 Virginia governor campaign website WagnerVaGovernor.com Mar 16, 2017

  • The above quotations are from 2017 Virginia Gubernatorial race: debates and news coverage.
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Candidates and political leaders on Tax Reform:

Retired Senate as of Jan. 2015:
GA:Chambliss(R)
IA:Harkin(D)
MI:Levin(D)
MT:Baucus(D)
NE:Johanns(R)
OK:Coburn(R)
SD:Johnson(D)
WV:Rockefeller(D)

Resigned from 113th House:
AL-1:Jo Bonner(R)
FL-19:Trey Radel(R)
LA-5:Rod Alexander(R)
MA-5:Ed Markey(D)
MO-9:Jo Ann Emerson(R)
NC-12:Melvin Watt(D)
SC-1:Tim Scott(R) 		Retired House to run for Senate or Governor:
AR-4:Tom Cotton(R)
GA-1:Jack Kingston(R)
GA-10:Paul Broun(R)
GA-11:Phil Gingrey(R)
HI-1:Colleen Hanabusa(D)
IA-1:Bruce Braley(D)
LA-6:Bill Cassidy(R)
ME-2:Mike Michaud(D)
MI-14:Gary Peters(D)
MT-0:Steve Daines(R)
OK-5:James Lankford(R)
PA-13:Allyson Schwartz(D)
TX-36:Steve Stockman(R)
WV-2:Shelley Capito(R) 		Retired House as of Jan. 2015:
AL-6:Spencer Bachus(R)
AR-2:Tim Griffin(R)
CA-11:George Miller(D)
CA-25:Howard McKeon(R)
CA-33:Henry Waxman(D)
CA-45:John Campbell(R)
IA-3:Tom Latham(R)
MN-6:Michele Bachmann(R)
NC-6:Howard Coble(R)
NC-7:Mike McIntyre(D)
NJ-3:Jon Runyan(R)
NY-4:Carolyn McCarthy(D)
NY-21:Bill Owens(D)
PA-6:Jim Gerlach(R)
UT-4:Jim Matheson(D)
VA-8:Jim Moran(D)
VA-10:Frank Wolf(R)
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Page last updated: Feb 18, 2023