Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, January 28, 1992 TAG: 9201280385
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID REED ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LYNCHBURG LENGTH: Medium
ECONOMY HEARING HAS GOP SLANT
A public hearing on economic recovery in Virginia was dominated by anti-tax and pro-business sentiments Monday, but the Republicans who ran the program acknowledged that they helped arrange the focus."That's what tonight is all about, economic development," said Mike Harrington, chairman of the Republican Party in Lynchburg.
The hearing was the second of four being held around the state by the Republican legislative caucus. The meetings are a response to four budget hearings by the legislative money committees in which many speakers called for higher taxes to help compensate for declining state revenues.
About 500 spectators and speakers came to the first hearing Thursday night in Chesapeake. There will be hearings in Richmond today and in Springfield on Wednesday.
The economic development theme drew particular sympathy in Lynchburg, where two of the largest employers - Montague-Betts Co. and Babcock & Wilcox's Naval Nuclear Fuel Division - announced job reductions during the past two weeks.
"Business really can't afford any new taxes," Dallas Wade, president of Central Virginia Industries, told the 23 Republican legislators. "We need economic stimulation, not more taxation." The feeling was echoed throughout the night.
In the hearings sponsored by the House Appropriations and Senate Finance committees, people spoke in the order they signed up, regardless of their topic.
In the GOP-sponsored hearings, the sign-up slips were arranged in four categories, depending on their subject matter: business, industry, government and other. Each category got an even number of speakers.
"Our focus is how we can get Virginia moving again and get people back to work," said Del. Randy Forbes, R-Chesapeake, told the audience. "We're trying to get a cross-section of ideas."
The GOP passed out surveys to be filled out by participants, with questions asking their opinions on raising the sales tax from 4.5 percent to 5 percent, imposing an additional tax on health-care providers, reducing the tax on personal savings, providing a tax credit to employers, cutting the state budget and raising taxes in general.
But the back of the page included a lengthy argument by the GOP on why Virginia cannot be "taxed out of this recession."
When it was David Mauck's turn to speak, he said, "I guess my story is a little different." Mauck, a volunteer for the New River Valley Community Services Board, described how cuts in its budget would force many people back into nursing homes and out of programs that attempt to make them independent.
Some of the other speakers in the "other" category spoke for increased spending for schools, museums and social services.