From the voters to Richmond: Cut spending
January 23, 2008Christopher Newport University took a poll to examine Virginians attitude toward the state budget. Here’s what they found (Roanoke Times via From on High, emphasis added):
Boosting taxes or tapping the state’s “rainy day” reserve fund is not the way a majority in a new statewide poll wants the state’s strained budget to be reconciled.
Fifty-six percent of those questioned in a Christopher Newport University survey said they prefer that the General Assembly and Gov. Tim Kaine slash state spending to offset a projected revenue shortfall.
The Governor’s plans for turning the “rainy day” fund into a “Kainy day” fund were not nearly as popular: “Thirty-one percent favored Kaine’s proposal to pair spending cuts on some programs with supplements from the reserve fund.”
As for the plans of Governor Kaine and othersto raise taxes (which the geniuses as the Timestried to airbursh out of existence): “Nine percent favored higher taxes.”
Oh, and just in case anyone out there still thought the transportation tax hike of 2007 was a good idea:
When asked what they would cut first, 55 percent of the 700 registered voters questioned said it should be transportation funding, the legislature’s signature achievement last year.
In other words, the voters of Virginia want their politicians to be thrifty, set priorities, and cut spending where necessary rather than raise taxes or rename the rainy day fund. Virginians are still, by and large, averse to big government. We can only hope the Republicans in Richmond have been burned badly enough to listen.
Cross-posted to the right-wing liberal
