Letters to the Editor

Letters to the Editor / News Virginian
Published: May 17, 2007

Some legislators and would-be legislators have made a pledge not to raise taxes. Isn't it foolish to make such a promise without knowing what future circumstances may be- It seems disingenuous for some who have made such promises in the past to boast that they kept their pledge even though they voted for fees on a number of services. Apparently, they do not consider this revenue to be taxes, but the money still comes from the pockets of constituents. As one Rockingham County supervisor said recently, people who make these promises should tell the citizens just which of their services will be cut in order to pay the state's bills.

For eight years, Sen. Emmett Hanger has chaired the Commonwealth Competition Council, a public and private group working to make government more efficient. The tax-reform legislation that he supported in 2004 did raise the sales tax half a cent, but it also increased the personal exemption on the income tax and lowered the food tax by 2 cents. This reform was especially helpful to the low-income worker and the hardworking middle class. Sen. Hanger works to keep taxes low, but he refuses to use a questionable no-tax promise as an emotional appeal for votes.

Please support a man who has proven to be a wise legislator and a man whose word can be trusted by voting for Sen. Emmett Hanger in the primary on June 12.

Sam Spicher
Harrisonburg

On June 12th the voters of the 24th Senate district will decide who can best represent them in Richmond. The voters should know how we who work with Emmett Hanger believe he handles the job of serving them. Often the day-to-day activities of the session go unseen by the media and public at large.

As a legislator serving a rural district similar to the 24th, I have a great deal of respect for how Emmett conducts himself as a representative of the people of his district and as a leader among his peers.

I have served on an assortment of committees and commissions with Senator Hanger. On the committees that he chairs, he is open and allows all positions to be fairly heard and often it is Emmett who finds the common ground. No better example was his proposal this year that saved the small wineries and wine-grape growers while not doing damage to existing distributors.

There are those who misrepresent Senator Hanger's position on taxes. If you listen closely to their argument, you will find the source of their argument is in the wealthy suburbs of Washington and Richmond. If you carefully look at the facts and details you will see that Emmett's votes for rural districts he and I represent were the correct votes.
In wealthy suburbs, taxpayers pay more than half of the costs of education. In most rural communities more than half of the money comes from the state. For either of us to have not taken the correct vote for our district, it would have cost those that we represent far more in increased local real estate taxes.

It is up to the voters of the 24th district to decide whom can best serve them. Please do so wisely for the good of rural Virginia.

Frank Ruff
15th State Senate District
Clarksville