Does Tim Kaine still stand with Obama on taxes?

Wednesday's speech by President Barack Obama supporting higher taxes begged the question: Does Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Tim Kaine agree with Obama's proposal for higher taxes? He's supported Obama with ObamaCare and other overreaching increasing government programs.

Republican Party of Virginia Chairman Pat Mullins had thoughts:

"President Obama's speech today leaves no doubt about how he plans to deal with our country's massive fiscal problems - higher taxes that will cripple job growth, penalize hard working Americans and make our economic recovery more difficult.

"The President's speech raises some important questions about his cheerleader-in-chief, former DNC Chairman Tim Kaine. Does Chairman Kaine still stand shoulder-to-shoulder with his good friend Barack Obama on taxes? It's a question that voters deserve to have answered.

"During the 2005 gubernatorial campaign, Tim Kaine's rhetoric was clear - he would not raise taxes. Then-Lt. Gov. Kaine bristled when then-Attorney General Jerry Kilgore suggested Kaine was a closet tax-hiker.

" 'He's going to raise your taxes if he's elected governor,' Kilgore told the TV audience.

" 'There you go again, Jerry,' Kaine responded, 'making stuff up. You're not fit to be governor if you make stuff up on this stage.' (Virginian Pilot, Oct. 10, 2005)

"Tim Kaine's record in Virginia is clear and well documented. There are few taxes left in the Commonwealth that Kaine didn't try to raise. At various times he tried to raise the income tax, the car tax and the motor vehicle sales tax. He closed 18 rest areas in an effort to force the House of Delegates to raise the gas tax.

"When he left office to head to Washington to become President Obama's Cheerleader-in-chief he left a budget disaster for someone else to clean up. While he headed north on I-95 (by-passing the rest stops he closed) he left a $6 billion budget deficit and plans to implement the largest tax increase in Virginia history to balance the budget.

"Now, President Obama finds himself in a situation that Tim Kaine is very familiar with and just like his Cheerleader-in-chief, his proposal is to raise taxes.

"Since President Obama took a page out of Tim Kaine's playbook and is proposing to address our national deficit by raising taxes, does Tim Kaine's stand behind his own record? Will he support President Obama's efforts to raise taxes?"

Republican Party of Virginia