An Imperfect Road Plan Better Than No Plan At All

The News & Advance
Published: May 17, 2008

Transportation is a pressing statewide problem one governor after another and one General Assembly after another has ignored for the past two decades.

In 1986, then-Gov. Gerald Baliles pushed several tax proposals through the General Assembly, including a hike in the gas tax and an increase in the sales tax with the money going to transportation. After that, Richmond acted as though the problem had been addressed for all time. Politicians stuck their collective heads in the sand and, from the mid-1990s on, ignored signs of burgeoning problems in Northern Virginia and Tidewater.

At high noon this past Monday in Richmond, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine unveiled a series of tax increases and fee hikes that would provide about $1.1 billion a year exclusively for the commonwealth’s transportation highway and mass transit needs.

Just minutes after the Democratic governor took the wraps off his proposal, the king of the Republican anti-tax crowd calling the shots in the House of Delegates, Majority Leader Morgan Griffith of Salem, rejected it out of hand as just “tax, tax and more tax.”

Well, excuse us, Mr. Majority Leader, but how else is government supposed to pay the bills and provide the services the public expects and legislators mandate? By plucking money off trees?

Here’s a recap of the governor’s proposed tax and fee changes, and thanks to The Associated Press, how they would impact the average citizen:

* The titling tax on auto purchases rises from 3 percent to 4 percent, generating up to $212 million a year by 2014. The money goes solely to upkeep and repairs on the 58,000 miles of highways in Virginia. When you buy a $20,000, you’ll pay an additional $200.

* The grantor’s tax, paid by people selling houses, increases from 10 cents per $100 of the deal to 25 cents per $100, with the $155 million generated annually by 2015 funding rail and mass transit projects. The impact? A homeseller pays an additional $500 at closing on the sale of a $200,000 house.

* Renewing your motor vehicle would cost $10 more, rising from $39.50 to $49.50. The $73 million in annual proceeds by 2014 goes entirely to highway maintenance.

* The two regions with the greatest needs — Northern Virginia and Tidewater — would have the sales tax increased from 5 cents to 6 cents, exclusive of groceries and medicines. The regions would realize an additional $641 million by 2014 for new construction and priority projects. The cost? An additional $32 in tax on a $3,200 flat-screen, HD TV.

And this is what has the tax-hating wing of the House GOP seeing red and frothing at the mouth? Give us a break.

Last year, Griffith and his allies in the House cobbled together a transportation “plan” based on money raised by the horrific abusive driver fees and that transferred the burden of addressing Northern Virginia and Tidewater needs to unelected taxing authorities in those regions. The Virginia Supreme Court killed that idea earlier this year, declaring such bodies “patently unconstitutional.”

Del. Griffith and his minions in the House simply do not want to admit that a statewide problem exists, because that means they would have to shoulder part of the blame. They simply want to resurrect the regional taxes and fees from a year ago, to be implemented by local city councils and boards of supervisors instead of unelected authorities. In other words, just another unfunded mandate from Richmond.

Talk about gall. Talk about buck-passing.

A modern, well-maintained transportation system is a statewide need and a statewide priority. Residents of Forest or Rustburg have as much interest in seeing good roads in Fairfax as the residents of Northern Virginia. A widened and improved U.S. 221 in Forest is as important to residents of Hampton Roads as it is to residents of Bedford County.

What the House majority leader’s approach amounts to is nothing less than balkanization of the commonwealth. Northern Virginia, Tidewater: We’ll give you “privilege” of taxing yourself to pay for transportation needs; the rest of the state: We just don’t see as there’s a statewide need here at all.

The commonwealth’s future economic health and vitality depend on a statewide transportation solution. Gov. Kaine’s plan, while not perfect, is head-and-shoulders above anything the anti-tax wing of the GOP is talking about, which is absolutely nothing.