Defending the General Assembly
Another WHRO roundtable (you can watch it here) where I try to convince host Cathy Lewis, blogger Vivian Paige, Virginian-Pilot editor Don Luzzatto and Daily Press reporter Kimball Payne that the world isn’t begging for higher taxes.
We talked transportation, where the gang of four pushed hard for higher taxes for transportation and disregarded anything short of that and blaming the General Assembly for everything.
They just don’t understand this fact:
Elected representatives don’t have people knocking on their office going “Would you raise my taxes already please!” (brilliant Kirwin quote)
That’s really the end of the discussion, unless you like an oligarchy. How many times do you expect elected officials to make their voters angry because newspaper writers (who won’t support them anyway) want them to?
Of course, elected officials can lie, and folks who otherwise say they want high levels of ethics in government practically cheer when Governors tell campaign lies about taxes as long as they get in office and raise taxes.
They bow in awe of Governor Baliles who got elected in 1985 while repeatedly saying “I don’t intend to propose a tax increase,” and then raised taxes on sales, gas and income.
They live on myths.
Vivian said the problem is that we should’ve started working on transportation 20 years ago, and I pointed out that 23 years ago was that vaunted Baliles transportation tax increase that was supposed to solve everything.
They thought the Independence Day weekend pipe burst was the result of insufficient taxes, and I replied “as if money cured incompetence”
Kimbell feared Northern Virginia’s leaving us in the dust on funding, prompting me to respond “And Northern Virginia loved taxes so much, that when they had the chance to raise their own taxes, they voted NO”
I think most voters think these things are incredibly more expensive than they need to be. I heard this Newt Gingrich quote and want our Congressional leaders to fix this problem, and if they did, it would be worth more than a dozen tax increases in solving the problem.
“The transcontinental railroad was completed in six years. Today, it takes twenty-three years to add a runway to the Atlanta airport.” (Gingrich)
THAT’S the problem! It’s not that government needs more money for roads. It’s that permitting, regulation and other government requirements make roads and tunnels infinitely more expensive than they ever need to be.
“The 1.1-mile Zion-Mt. Carmel Tunnel in Zion National Park was completed in less than three years(1927-1930). The so-called “Big Dig” in Boston (just over 3 miles) took so long (over 20 years) that soon after it was completed, it already needed repairs.
Why is there so little interest in reforming what government has done to inflate the cost of roads to a point where no one can afford the price tag?
Category: Government
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[...] will have the same makeup as before and the House will only change slightly. I have to agree with Brian Kirwin – the public isn’t going to clamour for increased taxes to pay for roads. As much as [...]
Brian, regrettably i missed the NPR show. And the firewall prevents listening now. But from your post here, your solution is the slashing of “permitting, regulation and other government requirements”? With the state’s coffers beyond empty, can you quantify the monies that would be made available if we slashed road construction regulations? Exactly which regulations are you referring to? I would suggest that your position is simply to leave our road situation as is, shrouded instead in a “cut gubmint red tape to pay for addressing our trans problems” unicorn hope-ology. Frankly, a “no new taxes, leave the transportation problems as they are” position is a more honest position than claiming hundreds of millions can be found under the state’s regulation couch cushions. Unless of course your quantification of reg slashing results in major coin.
Mr. or Mrs. Bar,
You really should see the show. That way you won’t have to “suggest” what my position is and get it wrong.
I see a problem when it takes 2 and a half decades to approve and build a runway. I see a problem when it takes 18 years to build a tunnel even with full funding.
If you think that’s optimum performance, we’ll disagree.
If you think people want their taxes increased, we’ll disagree.
I never said that fixing stupid, hurtful and destructive regulations, studies and requirements would build roads for free.
But in one case, it practically does. The Jordan Bridge was proposed to be built with 100% private money, until government and the organizations that review these proposals said the bridge needed to be much more costly, much higher than the previous bridge…yadda, yadda.
Government is making these things more difficult, and since we in Hampton Roads have a whole lot of water, our costs and difficulty are much worse.
The Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel was opened 8 years after the first study began, and was built with ZERO taxpayer dollars.
The Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel was Phase 1 was paid with toll bonds, and completed with 90% federal funding and 10% state.
Now, the proposed Third Crossing is supposed to take 18 years and Virginia or Hampton Roads pays for the whole thing?
Since when?
You did state that “the gubmint does not need more money for roads. Its the permitting, regs, and other gubmint requirements.” Do we scrub the EPA reviews? Deep six local referendums that may care to weigh in? Slash the bidding process and fasttrack the awards? Limit the design and review processes? Ignore established zoning regs?
Certainly with your claim that money is not needed and that regs are the problem, you have identified those specific regs that when quashed will lead us to a more better transportation mecca. Or is this perhaps a simple “Gubmint bad!” schpeil void of specifics? With tax revenues in the toilet, i think its a valid point to say that our current trans problems will remain with us for maaany years. and its very valid to say no more taxes and no more tax increases. I for one dont want my taxes raised. However, i think its invalid to say that to FIX the problem… 1) we do not need money and 2) lets just cut the (generic, ill-defined) red tape. The honest take would be 1) no more taxes & no more tax increases and 2) get used to the traffic woes cuz we aint doing anything about them.
Don’t put quotes around things that paraphrase what I wrote.
However, I’ve noted your satisfaction with how wonderfully efficient government regulations are.