Go ahead, raise those taxes – judging from this interaction with Virginia voters, they seem to be fine with it…oh wait, that was your take from the meeting. Everyone else there was opposed (including leadership of the Virginia Democrat party) to raising taxes while other unnecessary programs continued to expand.  From the Washington Post:

RICHMOND Shortly after Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) called a special session to try to tackle transportation funding issues, the governor gave a blunt assessment of what he hoped to accomplish by advocating a tax increase even though he didn’t have the support of the Republican-controlled House of Delegates.

“It will be very productive to either try to find a solution or make it plain to people who are standing in the way,” Kaine said in an interview with The Washington Post in May. “We are going to make something happen or let the public see who is obstructing, and frankly, that is one of the reasons why Democrats have won elections in Virginia.”

But 10 days into the special session on transportation — legislators have been on vacation for six of those days — it remains uncertain whether any solution will be found or whether the governor will score any of those political points.

The General Assembly already has killed Kaine’s proposal for a $1.1 billion tax increase to pay for roads and rail. It appears unlikely that the legislature will approve new statewide money for transportation, and the issue might not be brought up again until after the 2009 governor’s race.

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