Could the taxpayers be spared by a Richmond train wreck?
If what Steve Contorno (Washington Examiner) hears is correct, Democrats in the State Senate could be so wedded to Frank Wagner’s tax hike that they’ll refuse to support something too close to McDonnell’s tax hike, while Republicans who backed the latter may not like anything to close to the former:
“As long as the [final bill] resembles the Senate plan, we will have a transportation bill this year,” said Senate Minority Leader Dick Saslaw, D-Springfield. “If it varies too widely, we likely will not.”
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Senate Democrats allowed $50 million a year to come from the general fund, but that came reluctantly. House Minority Leader David Toscano, D-Charlottesville, said it’s unlikely they’ll budge on that.
Those kinds of lines in the sand are already threatening a compromise as representatives from both parties begin to meet behind closed doors to find a solution that can pass both chambers.
“If we’re going to start ruling out things almost from the beginning,” said House Majority Leader Kirk Cox, R-Colonial Heights, “we’re going to have a lot of trouble getting there.”
The House version takes a lot more road money out of the general fund (pursuant to McDonnell’s tax hike).
My guess is the Republicans are so desperate for anything that they can claim well help “transportation” (remember, all three statewide Republican officeholders are backing different tax hikes) that they’ll agree to anything – meaning the Democrats can probably squeeze as much from the taxpayers as they wish.
Still, there may be some hope that political gridlock can leave the taxpayers unscathed.
Cross-posted to the right-wing liberal
6 Responses to “Could the taxpayers be spared by a Richmond train wreck?”
Go Gridlock!
We need to have our broken transportation system dragged into the 21st Century………THIS COSTS MONEY!!! All the moaning about taxes wont fix our roads………….
Spending has risen by over 80% since 2000…when is it enough?
That doesnt fix our broken transportation system…………we need answers
Raising spending 80% from nothing is still nothing. Not everybody can sit in their basement and blog all day. Most of us have to DRIVE on the Commonwealth’s road system everyday to go to work.
If the money was going to roads, I would be able to support the tax hikes, but with 50% going to subways for the 2%, I can’t.
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