The so-called death tax is inherently unfair, so that's a "no brainer."
Re: the selective, short-term reduction of the sales tax, wouldn't it have been more provocative to suggest that the Commonwealth return to the pre-windfall rate of 4.5%? That would do a lot more to "ease the burden on families." Or, how about finishing the repeal of the car tax?
No wonder people find this campaign "uninspiring."

Actually if our taxes covered the $100 in supplies, e.g., property taxes were at a level that eked out $100 more per student, then we homeowners would get about $30 back from the higher tax deduction. (Assuming the alternative minimum tax doesn't kick in.) Too often jurisdictions add petty miniscule taxes we won't "notice" and a straightforward addition to our deductible taxes would be better.

Listening to Adrienne Whyte makes me want to throw up.

I wish McLean Voter had found a more articulate way to convey how offensive Adrienne Whyte's remarks are.

I advise McLean Voter to take some Pepto-Bismol and remember that the nausea that was induced actually came from the mean-spirited Republicans who think that gutting the state budget with nonsense notions like "no-duhh-car-tax" and "tax holiday" measures will actually fool voters into thinking a "petty miniscule tax" break will be a boon to the economy or even the family budget.

Kilgore and Howell need are pitiful if they think that a tax break on school supplies will somehow make voters with brains forget that Warner and Kaine have brought about the most substantive gains in education for Virginia in the last four years.

The guys who came up with those "decoder rings" must have had something to do with this "pitiful pencil" tax break.

Here's an easy one. Repeal the Warner/Chichester tax increases you passed and said you needed to balance the budget, yet now we have had two record surpluses.

If you can't use the money wisely to fix roads and schools then do the right thing and give it back....staring with a repeal of the tax increase and then a full phase out of the dumb car tax.

first off, if we're going to come up with cute names for taxes, let's call the estate tax what it really is "the obscenely wealthy person's tax", since this provision of the state tax code actually only affects those whose estates, by virtue of untaxed gains, have increased exponentially. this would be, i estimate, about 5 people in va. weee haaa!

i further note that delegate howell could cite no actual instances of family farms or businesses having to be sold off to pay said taxes. that would be because there haven't been any.

can't you just hear him saying "hey rubes!"

yeah, that tax on school supplies is a real killer! i limited my children to only two notebooks, because i couldn't afford that 4.5 cents. goleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

it's just this kind of inspired legislating that has resulted in the perfect transportation system we enjoy in the commonwealth.

oh, wait, we don't! my bad!

It is unfortunate the McLean Voter does not have sufficient words in his/her vocabulary that could have been used to provide a constructive discussion about Whyte's posting.

As noted, citizens pay little attention to a gradual increase in taxes.. half a cent here...a cent there. Similar to the gasoline increase. Will we really start complaining when the cost reaches $3.50?
Maybe it is too late for both.

What I do know, however, there is enough blame to go around for both the Republicans and the Democrats.

Whether you agree or disagree with Adrienne Whyte, we can't help but note that she is the only one here secure enough in her convictions to actually use a real name. Plus, her high level of debate and articulate discourse is pretty intimidating.

NB

Whether one agrees or disagrees with Adrienne White, it's pretty interesting to note that she is the only person in this discussion willing to use a real name. Perhaps the person with dispepsia can't follow the complicated reasoning that leads her to the opinion expressed. Frankly, it makes me think (since I disagree with her, at least on one point), but I'm pretty put off by the high skills demonstrated in debate, considerate discourse, and deep thinking. Pretty intimidating.

NB

Read the fine print folks: Kilgore and Howell are trying to pull a(nother) fast one -- "a repeal of the estate tax and a "tax holiday" for people buying school supplies in late summer."

Perhaps this is Kilgore's idea of bringing all Virginians together. By attempting to link two wildly disparate economic groups -- those wealthy enough to worry about "estate taxes" and those who wait until the last minute to buy school supplies for their kids -- he can convince those worried about the taxes on SCHOOL SUPPLIES that they have something in common with those worried about taxes on MILLIONS of dollars of inherited wealth.

Hmmm... WOW, Jerry...That's clever. Did those guys who dreamed up that "Decoder Ring" thing come up with this before or after you made that scrambled-egg statement about al-Quaida last week? And did you really say Jim Gilmore's "no car tax" thing was a "terrorist" attack on the budget of Virginia? Or that it was an "inspired" attack on the budget of Virginia?

We encourage users to analyze, comment on and even challenge washingtonpost.com's articles, blogs, reviews and multimedia features.

User reviews and comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions.