RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR) – Virginia Attorney General and Republican gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli made a sweet stop on the campaign trail Tuesday morning in Richmond.
Cuccinelli chose the Carytown Sweet Frog to unveil his economic growth and jobs plan. While introducing Cuccinelli, Sweet Frog COO Vance Spilman said the Richmond-based frozen yogurt chain has been impacted by the Healthcare Reform Law. Spilman said Sweet Frog is constantly looking for ways to offset costs the law has created.
“I’m confident that this [Cuccinelli's plan] will give Virginia businesses like Sweet Frog, the tools to grow, create more jobs and continue to invest in our great Commonwealth,” Spilman said.
Watch Spilman’s full introduction here:
Cuccinelli’s plan includes:
- Reducing personal income tax from 5.75 percent to 5 percent over four years beginning in 2014
- Establishing a task force to lower taxes on small businesses and close outdated tax loopholes
- Reducing corporate income tax from 6 percent to 4 percent
- Ensure state government growth does not exceed inflation plus population growth
Click here to read Ken Cuccinelli’s entire plan.
All in all, Cuccinelli is proposing 1.4 billion dollars in tax cuts. The Attorney General says his plan would be financed by projected revenue growth and by eliminating loopholes and exemptions given to select businesses.
“That’s a fairer way to go about this,” Cuccinelli says. “Then every business is playing on a fairer field because not everybody is getting those breaks.”
Democrat rival Terry McAuliffe’s campaign called the plan “unrealistic”, arguing it would lead to a budget crisis in Virginia, undermine education, and force localities to raise taxes.
“Virginians know there is no such thing as a free lunch,” says McAuliffe policy advisor Evan Feinman.
CBS 6 political analyst Bob Holsworth says the democratic response might just be what the republicans were hoping for.
“The democrats are basically saying we need a little more infrastructure in the state, we need a little more spending in the state. What Ken Cuccinelli is going to say is, let’s have this fight, that philosophical fight on the role and size of government,” Holsworth says.
