The budget proposed by former Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine includes a series of little-noticed fee increases that would ratchet up the cost of everything from booze to property insurance to measuring devices on a farm.
Kaine, who left office Saturday, handed off a two-year spending plan in December that calls for $155.5 million in new charges, according to a House Appropriations Committee analysis.
The levies are distinct from a much larger and more widely publicized bundle of tax increases, although they are likely to run into the same opposition from a Republican-controlled House and new Republican governor, Bob McDonnell. Virginia faces a $4.2 billion shortfall.
Kaine’s budget, for example, proposes a 0.5 percent fee on property and casualty insurance policies, which would raise $66 million through mid-2012. It includes a markup on liquor sales of 2 percent, an 18-cent line fee for E-911 callers, as well as a doubling of the fee on recording a real estate sale to $20, among other increases.
Under Kaine’s plan, the state for the first time would charge a $17.50 annual per-device inspection fee for instruments such as feedmill scales, livestock scales and moisture meters. The proposal has irritated farming industry advocates who criticize the fees as a needless burden.
The new revenue raised from those inspection fees wouldn’t go toward balancing the budget, but instead would pay for more frequent inspections.
“Certainly, our industry is not interested in any additional fees or costs in this economy,” said Donna Johnson, president of the Virginia Agribusiness Council.
The General Assembly, which convened last week, will dissect, amend and revamp Kaine’s budget before approving it as early as March. Republicans are expected to propose a version with deeper cuts to services and none of Kaine’s proposed tax increases.
Kaine pushed a plan that would scrap Virginia’s car tax in favor of a 1 percent income tax surcharge that would generate $1.9 billion annually, as well as do away with the “dealer discount” that allows retailers to keep a small portion of the sales tax they collect, saving $120 million a year.
