For having finished his first term in the General Assembly, Tom Rust is both the voice of experience and a breath of fresh air. We should definitely send more former mayors to Richmond.
Rust understands the risks of being overly dependent on a single source of revenue. He understands the risks of artificial caps and gimmicks. He knows first hand the struggles of local government to be responsive to its constituents.
Virginia should set its top priorities, Rust said, and then find a way to fund them, "adequately but efficiently."
"Our vision of Virginia needs to include things like higher education," Rust, a Virginia Tech graduate, said. "I know what a higher education did for me and I want that for all Virginians."
Still he proposes that an overall tax restructuring would allow for the elimination of the car tax, food tax and estate tax.