Tell your legislators to vote NO on Virginia HB 2313 Tax Hike Bill

Virginia has a spending problem, not a revenue problem.

The 109-page conference report on HB 2313 wasn't released to legislators until last evening and we are told it's even worse than we originally thought.

  

Delegate Ben Cline called it a "Frankenstein Monster" of a bill.  

HB2313 raises the state sales tax, regional sales tax, vehicle and tangible personal property taxes, vending machine tax, heavy equipment tax, recordation tax on commercial, industrial and residential real property sales, hotel tax, hybrid vehicle tax, and diesel fuel tax.

They call this a transportation bill but not all of the raised revenues will go to roads. Much of it will go to Metro and some to the General Fund.

To make matters worse, the NEW Regional Transportation Funding Authorities, an unelected governing board, in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads will decide how the transportation funding is spent. If they get it wrong, they are not vulnerable to the electorate.

The vote on HB 2313 will be today, despite the fact that few will have been able to read the Conference Report.

Please contact your legislators and tell them to vote "no" to the HB2313 conference report.

Tell them an increase in taxes will further weaken the economy.

Tell them they need to cut spending, not raise taxes.

Please contact your legislators without delay and demand that they vote "NO" to the HB2313 conference report.

Yours in liberty,

Donna Holt

Executive Director

Virginia Campaign for Liberty

Pitchfork Protest Comes to Richmond

Pitchfork Protest Comes to Richmond!

The Boneta Bill, H.B. 1430, will be heard Monday, January 28 at 5 pm by the Virginia House Ag Committee.

We need hundreds of people at the Virginia State Capitol.  We need the original Pitchfork Protest (from August in Warrenton) on steroids!

We will be meeting at 3:30 pm on the corner of N 10^th St and Bank Street. Signs, banners and pitchfork facsimiles are permissible on the public sidewalk and no permit is needed.

Please ready announcements to your lists, on your websites, social media, etc.  Alert your press contacts.

Get people there. 

Stand up to people like Fauquier County zoning Czar Kim Johnson who tell people they are “out of line” and threaten them with $5,000 fines if they refuse to go.

Be ready to sing Happy Birthday to the Fauquier County supervisors who will be there to testify that they need more power to regulate birthday parties for little girls and the sale of organic herbal tea.

Don’t wait for instructions.  “Rush to the sound of the guns!”

***************************************************************

Supporters of HB 1430, the Boneta Bill introduced on January 8^th by Delegate Scott Lingamfelter, will bring the Pitchfork Protest to the State Capitol in Richmond on January 28^th.

Organizers expect to garner significant media attention as well, since this bill has quickly become the most controversial bill of the legislative session, and indeed this legislation is being watched closely by property rights groups all across the nation.

Supporters of HB 1430, the Boneta Bill introduced on January 8^th by Delegate Scott Lingamfelter, will bring the Pitchfork Protest to the State Capitol in Richmond on January 28^th.

Organizers expect to garner significant media attention as well, since this bill has quickly become the most controversial bill of the legislative session, and indeed this legislation is being watched closely by property rights groups all across the nation.

The following announcement has gone out to farmers, property rights supporters, and other organizations Statewide:

Fiscal Cliff: Told Ya, Another Hand Job

TMOT tells it like it is, again!

Workers making $30,000 will take a bigger hit on their pay than those earning $500,000 under new fiscal deal

Middle-class workers will take a bigger hit to their income proportionately than those earning between $200,000 and $500,000 under the new fiscal cliff deal, according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. 

Earners in the latter group will pay an average 1.3 percent more - or an additional $2,711 - in taxes this year, while workers making between $30,000 and $200,000 will see their paychecks shrink by as much as 1.7 percent - or up to $1,784 - the D.C.-based think tank reported.

Overall, nearly 80 percent of households will pay more money to the federal government as a result of the fiscal cliff deal.

Read more from the orginal article here

Real ID might not be as dead in the water as was orginally thought.

History

In 2005, both houses of Congress passed The Real ID Act, then signed by so-called conservative George W. Bush. The Act failed pass as a stand alone bill several times, but only passed when the sponsors had it tacked onto the back of an Iraq Defense spending bill.

In turn, thirty-four (34) states, including Virginia, enacted anit-real ID legislation that outlawed such provisions that were in the Act from becoming law in their state.

Virginia passed Anti-Real ID Act (SB 1431, HB 1587) which prohibits compliance with Real ID provisions. (Enacted 3/31/09)

Current Virginia Attorney General Ken T. Cuccinelli was the chief patron in the Virginia Senate and Delegate Bob G. Marshall was the Chief Patron in the Virginia House.

Other Senate Patrons: Emmett W. Hanger, Jr., Frederick M. Quayle, Jill Holtzman Vogel

Other House Patrons: Charles W. Carrico, Sr., Anne B. Crockett-Stark, Sal R. Iaquinto, Brenda L. Pogge

Which states enacted legislation and what such legislation entailed.

Virginia Anti-Real ID Patrons 


Dangers of Real ID

• Real ID mandates RFID readable chips that can be read by any one who buys a reader.
• Unfunded Mandates on the State governments costing Billions.
• A central database that must be shared with all states, localities and in some cases foreign entities.
• No statutory limitations on “official purpose”
• Creates a federal identity document that every American will need in order to fly on commercial airlines, enter government buildings, open a bank account, and more. 

The language says that those who don't have it can't participate in "Federal Activity", which is rather vague language that could be stretched into anything that comes under Federal Jurisdiction.

Here is a list of a few things that come under Federal Jurisdiction, law or oversight:

Getting a loan to buy a home, opening a bank account, getting any regular loan, getting a student loan, a car loan, refinancing your home, buying a gun, selling products across state lines, flying in a plane, driving your car (if your doesn't offer a state Drivers license alternative to real ID), getting a JOB, possibly crossing state lines (especially if the next state doesn't recognize your non-Real Id state license) and the list goes on and on and on. To see more about the dangers to your liberty and privacy click Here


Real ID Resurfaces

Computerworld.com reports:

"A controversial 2005 bill designed to create a national standard for driver's licenses may not be quite as dead in the water as many might have assumed, according to a report released this week by the Center for Immigration Studies." (Read More Here)

It goes on to say how the Federal government is trying everything they can to re-implement this draconian Nazi style identification system which will limit your freedom of choice and movement . The States rejected it but they keep trying to find new ways to enforce it on us against the wishes of the states and the People.

So tell every one you can to call their Local, State and Federal Officials and urge them to fight a national ID of any kind.

Check out  Kirby Harris' Articles in his Column at the Richmond Examiner.

Gridlock and Regime Uncertainty - They aren't the same.

By Steven Horwitz)

For those of us who want to see the role of the State reduced in the bedroom, the boardroom, and the war room, election day always brings mixed feelings.  However, the one outcome that sometimes cheers us up happened this week: one party in control of the presidency and the other in control the Congress.  What is often called “gridlock” is often good for freedom, at least in relative terms, since it checks the power of any either party to ram through its nearly-always anti-freedom agenda.

In the current environment, anything that halts the forward march of government control over economic decision-making would be a good thing.  This is particularly so because the economy currently seems to be suffering from what economic historian Robert Higgs calls “regime uncertainty.” For Higgs this term refers to the uncertainty generated by government policies that generally trend toward more State control.
Even proposals that have passed, such as health care and financial “reform,” are so complex and confused that no one is sure exactly what they will mean for the business community.  As a result, Higgs argues, the private sector hesitates to invest. (read more)