海角大神

Tim Kaine, Hillary Clinton鈥檚 choice for vice president, served as governor of Virginia from 2006 to 2010 (the state has a one-term limit).聽 During his four years, Kaine proposed tax hikes to pay for new government programs and tax cuts for low- and middle-income residents. It鈥檚 a combination that closely parallels聽Clinton鈥檚 tax proposals聽for the nation. However, political opposition in his state legislature derailed Kaine鈥檚 larger ambitions and forced him to settle for smaller changes.

Kaine鈥檚 big goal was raising taxes to pay for new transportation spending. He asked the Virginia legislature in聽2006,聽2007, and聽2008聽for a mix of tax hikes on car sales, auto insurance premiums, and driver fines. And each time the legislature rejected his ideas in favor of debt financing and聽transfers from the general fund.

Broadly, Kaine鈥檚 preference for raising taxes to fund road and transit projects is similar to Clinton鈥檚 plan to fund education and infrastructure spending with new taxes. But there is one big difference: Kaine proposed tax hikes that would have affected most Virginians while Clinton would target聽only the most wealthy Americans.

As governor, Kaine was not a one-note act on taxes. He also advocated several tax-relief measures. In 2007, Kaine and the legislature聽raised Virginia鈥檚 income tax filing threshold聽from roughly $7,000 to $12,000 for individuals and from $14,000 to $24,000 for married filers, taking more than 300,000 Virginians off the tax rolls. The bill also raised Virginia鈥檚 personal exemption from $900 to $930, a Kaine accomplishment that mirrors聽Donald Trump鈥檚 idea聽to raise the standard deduction (though on a much smaller scale). By contrast, Clinton would leave overall taxes roughly unchanged for middle-income households, though she鈥檚 promised to deliver a tax cut for low- and middle-income Americans later in the campaign.

Kaine also signed three sales tax holidays into law: one for聽back-to-school supplies, one for聽energy-efficient products, and another for聽hurricane-preparation gear. These brief periods of tax-free shopping are popular with politicians and voters, but don鈥檛聽actually benefit most shoppers. (All are still in effect, though the state recently聽combined all three into one weekend.)

In a move that goes against the Democratic grain, Kaine also backed聽repeal of Virginia鈥檚 estate tax.聽 While Trump wants to kill the federal levy, Kaine鈥檚 top of the ticket running mate would boost the national estate tax.

Governor Kaine failed at two other major tax changes. During his聽2005 campaign聽and聽throughout his administration聽he pushed for a homestead deduction that would have delivered a 20 percent property tax rebate to homeowners. However, Republicans in the legislature scuttled the plan, afraid it would lead to tax hikes on commercial property. And in one of his final acts as governor, Kaine鈥檚聽proposed 2010-2012 budget聽would have hiked the state鈥檚 top income tax rate from 5.75 percent to 6.75 percent. His idea was to swap the state鈥檚 regressive聽personal property car tax聽for a progressive income tax hike mostly aimed at wealthier Virginias. However, after the term-limited Kaine left office, his Republican successor dropped the proposal.

Finally, as you hear stories about Kaine鈥檚 successes or failures as governor of Virginia, keep in mind that state chief executives have a relatively聽limited impact on their economies. This is as true for Kaine as for Trump鈥檚 running mate, Indiana Governor聽Mike Pence. For example, Virginia鈥檚 unemployment rate was below the national average during Kaine鈥檚 tenure鈥攁s it鈥檚聽consistently been for decades.聽

So stick with his policy decisions. Kaine was not afraid to propose both tax hikes and tax cuts as governor. He cut deals with his political opposition but was also stonewalled on major proposals (unsurprisingly, tax cuts were easier to pass than tax hikes). Given ongoing gridlock on Capitol Hill, his experience could prove useful if a future Congress tries to cherry-pick ideas from Clinton鈥檚聽grab bag of tax proposals.聽

This story originally appeared on TaxVox.