“I’m a traditional Republican, and I like less taxes, but this is one issue where I’m caught in the cross hairs and I don’t know what to do about it…. “I’m hung by my own words. I’m a low-tax guy, but we’ve got to pay some to make it better.”
— Billy C. Power, owner of Power Satellite Services, quoted in a story about state transportation issues.
Also from the story:
Since 1986 , the last time Virginia raised gas taxes to build new roads, the number of licensed drivers has increased by 34 percent, while registered vehicles have grown by half. And people are driving more. The number of vehicle miles traveled has jumped by 79 percent, according to VDOT, while overwhelming numbers of people drive alone.
Vehicle registrations are up by 53 percent, while the Port of Hampton Roads has seen its cargo double to more than 12 million tons since 1993 .
Political leaders traditionally have looked to gasoline tax increases to finance highway construction because a little can go a long way.
A one-penny increase in gasoline taxes can produce about $41 million in new revenue. Today, 46.1 percent of Virginia’s road-building money comes from taxes on motor fuels.
But inflation has eroded the gas tax, and since 1986 the buying power of that money has declined by about 40 percent, VDOT has said. And the tax of 17.5 cents per gallon is low compared with neighboring states; the nationwide average is 18.4 cents per gallon. In some places, local and regional taxes also are imposed.
In Mike Shear’s Washington Post story about the GOP’s transportation plan, House speaker Bill Howell (R-Stafford) says, “It’s not a panacea. It’s not a silver bullet. With such an enormous, huge problem that we’ve gotten ourselves into, it’s going to take a while and a whole lot of different approaches.”
And who got us into this enormous huge problem? Could it be the folks who say no-tax, no way? Who will voters hold accountable in November?