Road Funding Stuck in Neutral?
Virginia lawmakers return to Richmond on Wednesday to wrestle once again with the state’s transportation conundrum.
The odds of a solution aren’t good. Only one proposal remains – a 1-cent-a-year uptick in the gasoline tax for the next six years (eventually amounting to a 6-cent increase) – and it’s on life support.
House Republicans are absolutely gleeful about their plans to kill the Senate-backed gas tax increase as soon as possible. So far, they haven’t offered an alternative. This leaves Virginia pretty much where it started – without the funds to maintain its roads and bridges, let alone construct new ones.
If House Republicans wanted to be bold, they would back the gas tax increase and demand that the funds be dedicated, by law, to road work alone. This would eliminate any temptation to raid the transportation piggybank to pay for pet projects in future years.
With gas prices orbiting the $4-per-gallon mark, a penny increase will hardly be noticed. Gas prices seem to decline and climb by pennies on the gallon with little rhyme or reason on a regular basis.
Are Republicans honestly arguing that a 1-cent increase in the gas tax is going to break anyone’s family budget? Or are they merely reacting in Pavlovian fashion to the mention of a tax increase?
When discussing the gas tax, it is important to note that Virginia’s tax is lower than the levy in surrounding states (including Tennessee), and was last increased in 1986. It has neither kept pace with inflation nor with the cost of even routine road maintenance.
Two other points in the gas tax’s favor: It applies equally to Virginia drivers and out-of-state motorists who use the state’s highways and it is, at its core, a user fee. Hummer drivers and road warriors who spend large chunks of time behind the wheel pay more than those who use less.
Contrarians argue, correctly, that the gas tax isn’t a long-term solution. If gas prices increase dramatically, Americans will find ways to conserve; they will drive more fuel-efficient cars or simply drive less. Gas tax revenue will decrease, and the state will have to adapt.
This adaptation might take the form of increased reliance on rail to move freight and people, but this also will require state investment. And it is a longer-term proposition.
The demand for road and bridge maintenance isn’t going away overnight. Virginia must maintain its infrastructure, even if it doesn’t build a single mile of new highway. Northern Virginia and Tidewater residents, meanwhile, will probably argue against a no-new-construction approach as they sit stuck in traffic burning high-dollar gasoline.
We also note that recent constraints in the transportation budget haven’t just scuttled projects in the state’s gridlocked metropolitan regions. Some of Southwest Virginia’s projects have been shelved as well. Deferred maintenance, in particular, will affect us all.
The state needs more money for transportation. The gas tax increase is a temporary solution, but a fair one. Sate lawmakers should agree to it and begin the process of adapting to a costly energy future post haste. No other solution is on the table.
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Reader Reactions
I totally disagree with the above comment that “there is no other solution.“ There is another solution to the transportation crisis: eliminate waste and funding that is not absolutely critical to our safety.
First of all, any and all waste in ALL state departments should be eliminated.
Do NOT allocate funding for new programs that are not detrimental to the state’s safety. It is ridiculous to increase funding for the Pre-K program if taxes have to be raised. See my comments on this at the end of my letter on July 2.
Put a freeze on state grants until the state is in better financial shape. ANY program that can be eliminated or cut should be done.
We all have pet projects that we don’t want to give up, but we have to be sensible and understand that we cannot get everything that we want. The state should have to operate upon the same principles.
If Dick Saslaw and the editors of this paper want to pay extra for gas, have a collection jar at the cash registers and let them fill it. Any citizen can always give to the state. Remember a few years ago when we had the box to check on our tax return if we wanted to give extra for the Jamestown project? Add a checkbox for this year’s tax return to give extra to the state.
Yes, a penny a year does not seem like much money; but remember that those pennies do add up. Virginia families are already feeling the burden by rising gas prices. Our groceries have gone up drastically as well as other things that we purchase. AEP is wanting another increase. The Town of Rural Retreat is raising the price of our water bills. Virtually everything is going up in price. Minimum wage is going up this month. It may seem like a good idea to raise the minimum wage, but how many others are getting a raise? Minimum is going up 70 cents. The increase will cause prices to go up further. Businesses are limited in the funds that they have available. How many of the rest of us are going to be getting 70 cents/hour raises this year?
The list goes on and on as to increases in prices. Even the little penny increase per year in the gas tax will cause other prices to go up further. That will also make things that the state purchases to go up further. Will the state ask for another increase?
The best solution to the problem is to do what the rest of the people in Virginia have been doing the last couple of years: make the best of what you already have. If the state can help Virginians to have more of their own money, it will help small businesses to be able to expand and consequently, increase the wages of their workers. The increased income will add to the tax revenues.
If other states have higher gas taxes and their people are buying gas in VA, VA is getting the 17-1/2 cents per gallon from those drivers. If we raise our prices in line with those states, they will just buy their gas in TN or NC. Therefore, VA will not sell that gas and make the 17-1/2 cents per gallon.
If other states have higher taxes, then let them. That is one of the advantages of “states rights.“ Every state gets to make their own decisions. VA does not have to try to “keep up with the Joneses.“
I think that it would be a good idea to have every gas station to have a collection jar by the register with the pictures of Dick Saslaw and Governor Tim Kaine!
Wilma Justus
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