Comments on: Transportation, trust and taxes

By: Stephen Gunter

Stephen Gunter — Fri, 09 May 2008 19:43:33 +0000

Have to agree with you there, Brian In my opinion, any tax increase is bad. I’d even consider cutting out museums, libraries, etc before agreeing to a tax increase.

By: Brian Kirwin

Brian Kirwin — Fri, 09 May 2008 17:56:19 +0000

Reid, because folks in your organization would nail those who voted for it in primaries.

By: Reid Greenmun

Reid Greenmun — Fri, 09 May 2008 17:24:47 +0000

Henry, the MPO can be (should be) staffed to manage regional projects, the state/VDOT will manage the contracts/funds.

Brian, if you ascribe to the philosophical principle that “user pays” and that
“those that benefit most” from the 6 MPO project should pay, then a regional and/or state sales tax is not the way to go.

If we are looking for a simple fix as the Governor stated recently, why not simply be honest and upfront? Why not simply create an annual state-wide Transportation Tax”?

By: Brian Kirwin

Brian Kirwin — Fri, 09 May 2008 17:17:35 +0000

John, I see your philosophical argument, but a gas tax is just not in the cards.

Gas prices are so high, the presidential candidates are talking about cutting the federal tax for the summer. How popular do you think it would be to raise gas taxes while the feds are cutting them?

The sales tax has traction because it generates a LOT of money, and it’s money that grows over time, where fuel economy just eats away at gas taxes over time.

I hate to be a spoilsport, but I’m tired of Republicans offering solutions and Democrats sitting in the weeds to attack over it at election-time. Let the Democrats offer a tax increase to Virginians at election time.

By: John B. Harvie

John B. Harvie — Fri, 09 May 2008 16:52:29 +0000

My preferences are (both of the below):
1) – There must be an inviolate funds lockbox, and
2) – The funds be related to fuel purchases however structured. I see scant correlation between the transportation issue and sales taxes other than perhaps sales taxes from vehicle sales. Fuel derived income reflects the fuel efficiency of the vehicle, the miles driven, and wear and tear on transportation infrastructure. It receives funds from residents and visitors alike and does not penalize non-vehicle owners (BTW we do own three vehicles).

By: Henry Ryto

Henry Ryto — Thu, 08 May 2008 22:13:30 +0000

Reid,

If we have a regional tax package without the HRTA, who oversees the funds: the CTB?

I’m not in love with the HRTA, and realize how unpopular it is, but how do you have regional taxation without a regional board?

By: Reid Greenmun

Reid Greenmun — Thu, 08 May 2008 20:55:19 +0000

Brian, nice overview of what is going on transportation wise. I’d just like to add that the date for the Special Session was announced by the Governor yesterday. It is June 23rd.

While Del Cosgrove informed us that the HRTA is dead as a door nail, I would not be so sure – the whole reason the HRTA was created in the first place was to hide bond debt. It looks to me like “Da Beach” govies are making waves to try to scare the folks in Richmond into keeping the HRTA.

By: Congrats to Bearing Drift for helping shape the transportation debate « Virginia Virtucon

Thu, 08 May 2008 20:47:17 +0000

[...] helping shape the transportation debate Posted on May 8, 2008 by Riley Bearing Drift did yeoman’s work drilling down into poll answers on transportation funding that the Virginia-Pilot had been [...]