Kaine, Kilgore Oppose Higher Taxes But Leave Door Open for Increases

Kaine, the lieutenant governor, said he is opposed to increasing Virginia's tax of 17.5 cents per gallon on gas and will veto any tax increases for roads until the state passes a constitutional amendment that prohibits lawmakers from using money in the transportation fund for other purposes.

"He says, 'Without a guarantee, I'm not talking about it,' " Kaine communications director Mo Elleithee said.

However, the soonest a constitutional amendment could go into effect would be 2009, leaving Kaine no option to increase taxes for transportation until nearly the end of a four-year term. Stung by criticism that his plan offers no immediate hope for new roads, Kaine provides himself an out.

He said he would consider raising taxes if lawmakers found an alternative to a constitutional amendment that would ensure the money was used only for roads.

What could that be? Kaine said he hasn't "thought through, necessarily, what all the mechanisms could be." But he said creative lawmaking might open the door to higher taxes for transportation as early as next year.

"We've got creative people in the legislature," Kaine told reporters recently. "If we look at all that money and the legislature says, or the business community, 'Hey, that's not enough,' I'll work in good faith to look for revenue. But they've got to agree with my proposition first to lock up the money."

On general taxes for schools and other state services, Kaine refuses to take a no-tax pledge. But he quickly said that tax increases passed last year will probably satisfy the need for revenue for a generation. He joked that taxes in Virginia are raised only on the "cicada cycle," referring to the flying pests that emerge every 17 years.

Kilgore's position on taxes starts from a seemingly rock-solid premise: He won't raise them.

He repeatedly says he would fight higher taxes. He often reminds voters that he opposed the tax increases that were part of the 2004 budget deal. And his attacks on Kaine are meant to emphasize his own anti-tax credentials with the state's voters.

But the promises Kilgore has made during the campaign will cost money, especially the many road and bridge projects he has pledged to build. Most transportation advocates say the projects couldn't be finished without a new source of revenue, even with a booming economy.

So Kilgore has given himself an out as well.

He said he would accept tax increases if they were the will of the public, passed in a voter referendum. And he promises to push legislation that would give regional transportation authorities the right to hold tax votes without getting prior approval from the legislature, as they are required to do now.

In a private interview with the Fairfax chamber last month, Kilgore promised that he would not oppose Northern Virginia's efforts to pass a tax increase referendum, according to several people who attended the session.

"It does give us an opportunity to generate new revenue streams if we do choose as a region to raise our own taxes," said Mike Lewis, a former chamber chairman and a member of its political arm. "His response was, 'I will not stand in the way.' That was very important for us to hear."

Kilgore's openness to regional tax increases may have won him the support of groups such as the chamber, but it has angered conservatives in the Republican Party who want a more absolute anti-tax promise.

Kilgore has refused to sign a no-tax pledge offered by Americans for Tax Reform, saying he signed it four years ago. An opinion column in the Wall Street Journal this year derided him as hardly an advocate for lower taxes.

James T. Parmelee, the president of Republicans United for Tax Relief, said he supports Kilgore but parts with him on the issue of regional tax votes. Parmelee, who helped defeat such a vote in 2002, said they are an open door to tax increases.

"We don't need to give a regional transportation authority additional taxing authority. I've told him that," Parmelee said. "The other parts of the plan I support. Just that one part about giving an extra ability to tax. I think they can just say no, right now."