Will Legislators Rise to Meet Virginia’s Road Needs?

The News & Advance
Published: May 7, 2008

Most Virginians say they want a solution to meet the growing needs of the state’s beleaguered transportation system. But are they willing to pay for it?
They are, whether through slight increases in the state’s gasoline tax, sales tax or the motor vehicle titling, or a combination of all three. But most Virginians won’t get a say on the question. It will be up to Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, the 100 members of the House of Delegates and the 40 members of the Virginia Senate.
Kaine will get an answer to the transportation needs, which are facing a more than $1 billion shortfall, when he calls a special session of the General Assembly on road funding next month.
Two critical issues will face the lawmakers as they return to their desks in the Capitol to finish the business they were unable to finish in the regular session that ended in March. The first, of course, is where to find the revenue needed to sustain the construction and maintenance of a growing highway system.
Among the sources of new revenue is an increase in the gasoline tax, where a penny boost would generate an additional $59 million annually. A penny increase — to 6 cents on the dollar — in the sales tax would yield about $1 billion. An increase in the auto titling tax, which currently is 3 percent, would create an additional increase that together would meet the state’s current needs.
Virginia’s gasoline tax is among the lowest in the nation at 17.5 cents per gallon, as Kaine has pointed out whenever he can. He also says the sales tax is lower than any surrounding state and lower than the national average of 6.2 percent.
Kaine put the need for more revenues to a group of civic leaders late last month this way: “You can have an A-plus system with A-plus revenues and you can have a C-plus system with C-plus revenues. But,” he said, “you can’t have an A-plus system with C-plus revenues.”
The other critical issue is whether to fix the transportation problem on a purely regional basis. Kaine, a Democrat, recognizes correctly that the highway problems are a statewide problem and should be addressed as such. Most House Republicans, meanwhile, see the problem as a regional one facing Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads and want local governments there to raise the money. The Republican delegates have balked at any statewide tax increase to generate the needed revenue.
And why are the House Republicans opposed to any statewide tax increase — gasoline or other? It’s because they have put their partisan ideology ahead of the best interests of the entire state.
As the Virginian Pilot in Norfolk reported recently, Dels. Glenn Oder, R-Newport News, and John Cosgrove, R-Chesapeake, confirmed as much. Both said Republicans who seek higher taxes can expect to be targeted for defeat by fellow Republicans who will finance opposition to have them voted out of office.
So the party really is more important to those Republicans than the state. That’s pathetic.
There are reports coming from both Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads that House members from both sides of the aisle have agreed to meet this week to try to reach a consensus on the $1 billion transportation gap. That would mean setting aside partisan ideology and doing what’s best for the state.
That will involve some compromise. But isn’t that what politics should be about?
Late last week, Kaine was optimistic. He said he senses a desire on everyone’s part to fix the problem. But he quickly added that by “fix,” he means, the restoration of the $600 million needed for Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads construction and the $450 million needed to close the funding gap for maintaining roads elsewhere across the state.
That’s the problem. It remains to be seen how the state’s lawmakers will fix it.