When is a tax increase not a tax increase?

In the waning days of the 2010 Virginia General Assembly, talk of the budget is on the minds of everyone including our own Lt. Governor Bill Bolling. Today he put pen to paper (keyboard to monitor?) and shared his thoughts:

As I write this column, budget conferees from the Senate and House of Delegates are meeting to reconcile their differences and adopt a new state budget for the 2010-2012 biennium. While it may be a gross over simplification, their ultimate task really comes down to two things

First, they must agree on how much tax revenue the state will receive in the upcoming biennium. In other words, how much money do they have to spend? Then, they must agree on how they want to spend that money.

In recent days, much has been written about how many fee increases, or tax increases, are buried within the budgets adopted by the Senate and House of Delegates. So, I thought I would use this week’s column to try and shed some light on that question.

Go to the website and read his ideas.