Virginia's tax and spend Democrat Governor Warner has resorted to shameless vote buying, reports the Washington Post. Of course they don't call it that, but they do note that Warner is promising that his $1 Billion two year tax increase will not affect a majority of the voters.

"If there is one thing I want you to remember," Mark R. Warner told the [crowd], "it's that at the end of this plan, 65 percent of Virginians will pay less."

So by promising to only raise taxes on the top 35% of Virginians, Warner pretty much guarantees success, right? Well not exactly. As J. Pepper Bryars of the American Spectator points out, Alabama voters recently rejected a similar tax increase (by a 2-to-1 margin) that was advertised to lower taxes for 70% of the populace.

So why would voters reject a tax increase that was billed to shift their tax burden over onto their neighbor? Well, Bryars notes that voters are smarter than they look. They realize that increasing taxes on their employer is going to mean a few less dollars in their paycheck, and that increasing taxes on local business owners is going to mean higher prices. While tax cuts eventually trickle down, so do tax increases.