That was quick. It's only March, and the two leading contenders for governor already have sacrificed Virginia's local government finances to the gods of November.
Only this time it's not just the leading Republican holding the dripping blade. The Democrat, with unhesitating glee, made the first, cruel thrust. Et tu, Timmy?
That would be Timothy M. Kaine, former mayor of Richmond and Virginia's current lieutenant governor, who launched his campaign two weeks ago by proclaiming that residential property taxes were "out of control." A few days later, former attorney general Jerry W. Kilgore (R) showed up in Northern Virginia in a similar state of angst, saying, "No Virginian should be forced out of his or her home because of runaway property assessments."
So immediate, so dire is this situation that both men have proposed amending the state constitution as a remedy -- a process that requires at least three years. Which, of course, is more than enough time to force everyone out of their homes if the powers of darkness were so inclined.
Nevertheless, either Kilgore or Kaine probably will become the next governor and then try to make good on his respective promise.
Kaine favors local government authorization to exempt as much as 20 percent of the assessed values of homes and farms; Kilgore would cap residential property assessment increases at 5 percent a year.
Neither man discriminates in the application of his proposed relief. Big income, no income, it's all the same -- and, on a purely political level, that works out about right. Anyone with a house and a rising assessment will tell you about being victimized by his or her increasing wealth.
This is not peculiar to Virginia. A troubled woman in Las Vegas bought a piece of property in the 1960s for $100,000. It's now worth $6.8 million, the taxes have gone up and, yikes, someone needs to help this poor lady -- so she says.
True enough, not every homeowner can afford to be house-wealthy. Fixed-income retirees, for instance, can find themselves under financial pressure from rising assessments and can benefit from some targeted help. But Virginia cities and counties already have considerable discretion to provide specific relief based on circumstances. As for property taxes generally, some communities in Northern Virginia have engaged in a friendly competition over reduced tax rates.
The state constitution, however, obliges all Virginia localities to begin in the same place -- by assessing real estate at its fair-market value, a traditional proposition founded on the idea of equality and fairness in taxation. Fair-market value is determined by an appraisal process.
That's process -- as in, rational. You know, a uniform standard for valuation. You don't like the outcome, fine. You get to appeal.
But now comes an appeal of a different order. Kaine and Kilgore have blasted out of the gate in full pander mode, having said little on the subject of property taxes before launching their campaigns.
It's galling, because these guys know which end is up. They know that Virginia state and local finances have been the object of repeated study for more than seven years.
Let's see, we had a Commission on Virginia's State and Local Tax Structure for the 21st Century, which issued its report in December 2000. The Governor's Commission on Government Finance Reform concluded its work a year later. And the Joint Committee to Study Virginia's State Tax Code made its report in 2003.
And what number of recommendations that emerged from these studies are being advocated by Kaine and Kilgore? Precisely zero. Why? Because every one of these studies was completed in the years following the last campaign-winning effort to "relieve" one local tax in isolation without any consideration of the larger consequences.
In 1997 James S. Gilmore III ran for governor on a promise to end the local property tax on personal vehicles. This got him elected, but it subsequently produced a rip-roaring legislative and administrative debacle. Now, eight years later, the authorization for the property tax on cars still sits on the books, and the state has capped the cost of the repeal at $950 million a year.
That cap -- which represents the total amount localities will be reimbursed for lost car-tax revenue -- means increased city and county dependency on the real property tax, a dependency that's arguably already too great. (Yes, the two are related.) While the Kaine and Kilgore proposals to stem rising residential property taxes are less administratively problematic than the car tax repeal, both will result in lost local revenue.
And how will that revenue be made up? Virginia business and commercial property owners should brace themselves. Increased fees and other tax increases? Just wait.
Adlai Stevenson once advised against running for office in a manner that demonstrates your unfitness for the job. Kaine and Kilgore should bear that in mind.
gcmorse@cox.net
