Mark "I will not raise taxes" Warner, who pushed through the largest tax increase in Virginia's 400-year history is now crowing about having extra tax money laying around.

In Virginia, Gov. Mark R. Warner (D) is leaving a $1 billion surplus to his successor, Timothy M. Kaine (D), and the Republican-controlled legislature.

Kaine and the lawmakers have said they intend to spend much of that money on one-time projects that will not create permanent spending obligations that would be difficult to fulfill should the economy falter. Members of both parties have talked about road construction and cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay.

Virginia's top Republican senator, Finance Committee Chairman John H. Chichester (R-Northumberland), has called for the surplus to be used for "non-habit-forming expenditures."

Notice tax cuts never seem to be an option. Economists are predicting that the economic boom won't last. (Now that's going out on a limb.) Of course the economic boom hit before Warner raised taxes, and his massive tax hike certainly won't help things.