Suffolk News-Herald

He’s done it again.

Defying his party, Del. Chris Jones, R-Suffolk, was one of five Republicans in the House who on Monday opposed the proposal to resume the incremental car tax rollback that began in 1998.

The rollback was 70 percent complete when it was frozen in 2002 and capped last year.

The Republican-sponsored bill that would finish the car tax phaseout by 2012 won the House’s support by an overwhelming 73-21 vote. Voting yes were 53 Republicans, 19 Democrats and one Independent.

&uot;I was just being consistent with my vote last year,&uot; Jones said.

Jones made national headlines last year when he ended a long-running General Assembly stalemate by proposing a budget that didn’t have the support of most Republican lawmakers.

The measure still has to go before the Senate and Gov. Mark Warner, a Democrat, who has said the rollback is not fiscally prudent at this time.