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Distinguished Members of the General Assembly:

My name is Arthur Purves. I address you as president of the Fairfax County Taxpayers Alliance.

I would like to correct the half-truths being employed to promote Governor Warner’s billion-dollar tax hike. First, the Governor states repeatedly that since he has been in office, he has cut the state budget by $6 billion. The truth is that since he has been governor, the state budget has increased by $2.5 billion.

The Governor has also stated that spending increases are needed to keep up with population growth and inflation. He conveniently ignores the rapid spending increases during the dot-com bubble. Since the dot-com bubble began in 1998, the Virginia budget has increased $4 billion more than needed to keep up with population growth and inflation.

The Governor states that public schools are under funded by $700 million annually. However, the Virginia Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission’s recent report, Review of State Spending: December 2003 Update, states that public school spending has been increasing nine times faster than enrollment.

The Governor states that higher education is under funded by $400 million a year. However, the same JLARC report states that the budgets for four-year public colleges have been increasing over three times faster than enrollment. The JLARC budget figures are adjusted for inflation.

The Governor states that health care and Medicaid are under funded by $350 million annually. However, the JLARC report states that the number of Medicaid recipients has been increasing four times faster than population growth. Welfare reform is a failure. Before the War on Poverty, seven percent of American children were born out of wedlock. Today, one-third of American children are born out of wedlock. Most are destined for poverty, health problems, education failure, and crime. Medicaid, subsidized housing, food stamps, and subsidized childcare still create a powerful financial incentive for out-of-wedlock births.

The JLARC report states that our prison population has been increasing ten times faster than overall population. I submit that our welfare state is producing the felons that populate our prisons.

The Governor says that tax increases are needed to shore up Virginia’s bond rating. In fact, Virginia has been selling too many bonds. Ten years ago, bond-sale revenues were four times larger than the debt service. Today, revenues from bond sales are about the same as the cost of debt service.

While education funding has increased many times faster than enrollment and inflation, transportation funding has increased only half as fast as vehicles miles traveled.

Before asking the taxpayers to write a blank check for education and welfare, we request a detailed accounting for the increases in these programs. According to Delegate Gary Reese, the government is unable and perhaps unwilling to do this. We need spending reform, not tax hikes.

Thank you.

Updated January 10, 2004