Va. Legislators Decry 'Poverty of Priorities'

By Terry Hartnett
Special to the Herald
(From the issue of 5/15/03)

Mother Teresa said, "When a poor person dies of hunger, it has not happened because God did not take care of him or her. It has happened because neither you nor I wanted to give that person what he or she needed."

At the recent annual gathering of local Virginia legislators and Catholic advocates from Social Action Linking Together (SALT), the talk turned not only to a discussion of the state budget and legislation in the recently completed General Assembly session but to a broader discussion. Where are the poor, personified as Christ, among us here in Virginia? Do we, as Catholics and those of other faiths who serve as our representatives in the halls of state government, recognize the needs of the poor, or turn a blind eye?

"We should not wage a budget war against children," said Delegate Marian Van Landingham. This past legislative session was marked by a lack of priorities, she said. "There are a lot of people who don't want to face up to the problems of the poor in this state but the irresponsibility has to stop somewhere," she added.

The legislators mentioned legislation that they had championed this past year. The broader discussion, however, focused on tax equity, the need to develop a new tax system for Virginia, and the repeal of the estate tax.

"We must look at finding resources in the state to respond to social justice issues," said Father Gerry Creedon, pastor of St. Charles Borromeo Church, where the meeting was held. "It is said that, 'What good is faith if we do not put it into action?'" said Father Creedon. This is particularly true in the state of Virginia now, he added.

"I really believe that we need to consider education in our schools and communities about what it takes to be a good citizen and what we want of good government," said State Senator Patricia Ticer, former mayor of Alexandria. Ticer said people seem to forget that the government provides many services to its citizens and that resources are needed to provide even the most basic of services.

"Things like the SALT priorities cannot be done without resources," said Delegate Vivian Watts. "We must look at reforming the entire tax system," she said. Watts also noted that she had introduced a bill to tax cigarettes at $0.60 per pack but the bill received only three votes in the Senate Finance Committee. Virginia has one of the lowest cigarette tax rates in the country. "This tax would decrease health care costs and provide a net revenue income of $350 million," said Delegate Watts.

The General Assembly voted to repeal the estate tax but Governor Mark Warner later vetoed the bill. The legislators that attended the SALT conference said the passage of this bill would have meant a 10 percent cut in community services across the state. The estate tax change would repeal the tax on estates over $1 million.

SALT leader John Horejsi praised Delegate Van Landingham for fighting to restore funding for the homeless. In his budget, Governor Warner proposed to cut nearly 20 percent of funding for the homeless ($900,000). "I want to acknowledge and thank Marian for her struggle to restore funding for the homeless," said Horejsi. In addition to urging her colleagues to vote for restoration of homeless funds, Van Landingham supported one of SALT's 2003 legislative proposals — a rental assistance program for low-income working families that could have been paid through federal dollars sent to Virginia under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program.

The rental assistance proposal failed this year, as did two other SALT priorities — a prisoner reentry program and a 10 percent increase in TANF benefits for children and families moving from welfare to work. All of SALT's goals this year were fundable using federal TANF monies, said Horejsi.

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