Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, October 9, 1995                   TAG: 9510090141
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DWAYNE YANCEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

WHICH PATH LEADS TO BETTER PAY?

Higher education or lower taxes?

That appears to be the policy choice Virginia voters are offered when they go to the polls this fall to elect all 140 members of the General Assembly.

Democrats and Republicans have different ideas on how to lift the incomes of low-wage workers.

Democrats say Virginia needs to spend more on education, especially higher education and worker retraining so that workers can improve their skills to qualify for higher-wage jobs.

Del. Jim Shuler, D-Blacksburg, puts it this way: "As we are more and more becoming a knowledge-based, global marketplace, I believe that more vocational and higher education opportunities are the best resource to allow people to improve their earnings." That's why Del. Clifton "Chip" Woodrum, D-Roanoke, says Virginia must give adult education and other training programs a high priority.

Many Republicans also agree that education and worker retraining are important to boost wages in an information-age economy. But many GOP candidates in Western Virginia prefer to emphasize their plan to increase take-home pay instead, by cutting state income taxes.

Raising the personal deduction from $800 to $2,400 would "give working families a break," says Pat Cupp, the GOP challenger to state Sen. Madison Marye, D-Shawsville. (Democrats counter that Virginia is already one of the lowest-taxed states in the nation.)

Republicans also tend to put their faith in the free market. "The best policy a person can advocate to give people a better chance to earn a livable wage is to have a growing economy with continuous job creations," Cupp said. "The laws of supply and demand tell us that the more jobs that are available, the more employers will offer to attract a quality work force."

But Democrats contend that simply having a growing economy isn't enough to bring high-wage jobs to this part of Virginia. House Majority Leader Richard Cranwell of Roanoke County says the state should take unspecified steps to direct its economic growth to Western Virginia.

"Northern Virginia, Tidewater and Richmond ... have experienced unprecedented growth, and those areas do not need as much help as we do," he says. "The real challenge in the future is to make sure that some of the new economic prosperity that Virginia experiences is in areas outside of the urban crescent."

Those competing philosophies - should government try to get out of the way, or should the state intervene to guide the way the region's economy develops? - are at the core of the choices voters are being offered in this year's General Assembly races.

But there's one important state policy both parties do tend to agree on: Financial incentives to big companies thinking about locating in Virginia are here to stay.

Some candidates are less enthusiastic about them than others. Marye sounds the most cautionary note. "Some incentives have proven their worth over time," he says, but he has to go back to 1872 - and Montgomery County's monetary offer for the state to locate a land-grant college in Blacksburg - for his example. Still, he doesn't rule out incentives provided they're "fair to existing industries," offer high-quality jobs and meet other requirements.

The other legislative candidates say essentially the same thing, just in somewhat more positive terms. Most echoed Newell Falkinburg, the Republican House candidate who hopes to oust Woodrum: "Yes, I would support offering incentives to lure business to Virginia if the long-term benefit is greater than the short-term investment costs."

"Economic incentives," Cranwell says, "are a fact of life."

Keywords:
POLITICS