Del. Bob Marshall has released a reasoned, principled statement on how Republicans can advance transportation funding in Virginia without behaving like Democrats and reflexively raising taxes.
Here are some practical non-tax transportation proposals:
HJR 6007: Lock up the Transportation Trust Fund so transportation dollars are not diverted for other means. More than $1.2 Billion has been diverted to non-transportation uses over the last 18 years. This must stop.
HB 6030: Fund major transportation projects using bonds paid by tolls or rider fares, i.e., Hampton Roads Bridge tunnel expansion, I-81 truck improvements (trucks pay tolls), Tri-County –Prince William-Fairfax-Loudoun– Connector, expand commuter rail in No VA to Haymarket, buy more Metro Subway rail cars, etc.
HB 6049: Allow naming rights in exchange for corporations and individuals paying for building roads and other transportation projects, just as is done for stadiums and school buildings.
Implement the 2002 Wilder Commission efficiency recommendations that were projected to currently save $1.1 Billion annually without reducing services.
Allocate a greater portion of state revenue to transportation. Out of a 2-year budget of roughly $79 Billion, surely a greater percent could be allocated for transportation.
HB 6031: Require all tractor trailers (VA and out of state) to pay for a per mile road maintenance and damage charge which is now passed on to other Virginia drivers.
HB 6032: Set up a permanent state oversight Commission, similar to the federal cost cutting BRAC Commission, to evaluate whether state holdings should be sold, identify duplicate programs, and cut unnecessary overhead while maintaining the same level of services.
HJR 6011: Stop burning food! Request a waiver from the federal ethanol mandate. Ethanol results in less miles per gallon and increases food prices from diversion of food to fuel. (Speaker Bill Howell publically announced I would have all of 30 seconds—literally–to present this measure to his Rules Committee!)
HJR 6008: Assess methane resources now being wasted in Virginia which could be converted to fuel for cars/trucks.
Unfortunately, House Speaker Bill Howell, a Republican, is bottling all these measures up in the Rules Committee. Be sure to read the entire message from Del. Marshall over on D.J. McGuire’s The Right Wing Liberal. Increasingly, I’m finding that both Republicans and Virginia would be better served with Del. Marshall in the Speaker’s chair.
Filed under: Republicans, Taxes, Transportation, Virginia General Assembly, Virginia Politics
Here is a letter that I sent to some of our Delegates, last week. I urge all citizens, to pass along their ideas to their Delegates. The revenue must come from somewhere and gaining consensus on the Marshall cuts is far from likely, so alternative ideas must be reviewed.
Here’s the note:
We could raise the gas tax by ten cents and that will be OK with me.
The way I see it, the gas tax is paid by everyone who drives, including all of those out of state folks just passing through.
If I am paying $4.90 by the end of the summer, or $5 per gallon, it just isn’t much of a difference, anymore. We are numb with economic shock from the gas increase and ten cents more won’t matter.
The good part of a gas tax is that it is highly visible and therefore easily audited. The citizens will easily see how much money comes in and therefore where it goes.
I don’t support regional taxes, or tolls or so-called public-private partnerships (foreign ownership) because none of these are shared by all citizens, and one of my core beliefs is that every citizen in Virginia receives benefits from having roads, and we should all share the tax burden.
The average Virginia driver, according to US DOT figures, consumes only 300 gallons annually. I think this figure is low, but even if you double it to 600 gallons annually, a ten cent per gallon tax increase would only cost each of us sixty dollars per year, or five dollars more per month than we spend now.
The proposed six cent increase would only cost me an additional three dollars more per month. I would rather live with that, than to have toll booths causing crashes and delays, or cops hiding in bushes raising revenue by preying on us while we are out trying to make a living.
On another subject: I will be out a the Tomato Festival in Hanover on July 5th. The Hanover Republicans will be there and can always use some help handing out GOP recruiting material.
I am of the mind that there is perhaps a higher office that might require Delegate Marshall’s services in the state.
WIthout raising taxes?
I am not so sure the trucking industry would agree with that chracterization since one of the proposals would be a tax that specifically singles them out.
I personally don’t care for the classless way Marshall left the stage at the convention, zinging Gilmore and talking about how little money he spent.
well with all these ideas going around, tax and non-tax, i just want to know when the mudslinging is gonna stop. each idea seems to be worthwhile. every idea is gonna have it’s positives and negatives, but until it’s implemented it doesn’t mean jack squat.