VA Gubernatorial Candidate Cuccinelli Outlines Economic Strategy

Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli outlined his economic growth and jobs plan Friday morning Alexandria, saying lower taxes and a hospitable business climate are keys to success.

If elected governor, “job creation is my chief priority,” he said, later adding: “Virginia is like a big business competing with others nationally and internationally.”

Foster’s Grill owner Lauren Catts said her business is thriving with 16 employees, but she would like to see a more stable business climate in the state to achieve her dream of opening two more grills.

“My original intent was to open three different Foster’s Grills but today because of the uncertainty, I am not sure I will be able to obtain my goal,” she said before Cuccinelli spoke at her restaurant located on Eisenhower Avenue.

Cuccinelli said there are a number of steps that can be taken at the state level to ease regulatory burdens and to ensure Virginia is a good place to do business.

“The minute we stop working to improve is the minute we fall behind,” he said.

If governor, he would like to establish a small business tax relief commission charged with achieving certain goals.

Cuccinelli would like it to examine eliminating or reducing three local taxes.

“I’m not looking at reducing the tax revenue of local governments…I’m not looking to take revenue away," he said, but to come up with alternatives by giving localities more flexibility in a way that’s “less harmful to the economy."

Specifically, he wants the small business commission to examine the gross receipts tax; machinery and tools tax; and the merchants’ capital tax.

“These taxes are punishing small business,” he said, adding that he’d like to replace them with something more “21^st Century.”

Former Alexandria City Councilman Frank Fannon, a Republican, attended the event and noted that he fought hard to ensure Alexandria did not add a state-allowed 12.5-cent add-on tax during a 2011 debate on the issue – making Alexandria “the only municipality in Northern Virginia that doesn’t currently put this surtax on business owners,” he said.

• See Alexandria City Council Ponders Transportation ‘Add-on’ Tax

“Alexandria can benefit from a two-party system,” Fannon said. All seven current council members are Democrats.

Cuccinelli said he would also seek to phase-in a reduction of personal income tax from its top rate of 6 percent to 4 percent.

He said Virginia also needs to compete more aggressively to woo businesses as other states seek to do the same.

He specifically cited North Carolina and noted that in the 1990s when that state freed up its bank laws, Virginia was caught behind as many banks moved there.

“That was a real economic loss for us,” he said, noting that North Carolina is gearing up to make moves for business once again. He also cited Texas as a big competitor and said if governor he would travel to other states to woo their firms.

Cuccinelli also reiterated throughout his comments that the next governor of Virginia will have a special opportunity to grow the state’s trade and shipping businesses as the Panama Canal is expanded within the next three years or so.

“We don’t want to lose sight of international opportunities within the next three to four years with port expansion,” he said, adding it will become very important to the state to leverage the Port of Virginia.

Northern Virginia contributes greatly to the state and its tax base, he said, but southeast Virginia has a port – a “spectacular asset.”