Funding roads after Regional Taxes ruled unconstitutional
March 4, 2008
Letter to Editor submitted to local papers
It's good news for Loudoun County that the Virginia State Supreme Court found in favor of taxpayers and struck down those aspects of the infamous 2007 Transportation bill that trampled on the constitution. While it was one thing for elected Loudoun County officials to raise taxes to be spent in the county, as the original proposal allowed, it was totally unacceptable for an unelected body to decide to raise our taxes and on how to spend them.
Additionally, it's no secret that the unelected NoVa Transportation Authority was even prioritizing spending on bike paths and bus shelters while anecdotes from Loudoun's residents report their daily commuting times have doubled in recent years. The reality is we need to build roads and the General Assembly and the state have a responsibility to pay for those roads from the General Fund. Transportation is a core State responsibility and not a financial obligation to be forced onto local governments due to negligence. State roads should be built using state funding. For decades the General Assembly has ignored plans for critically needed roads and bridges. Meanwhile, a larger and larger percent of the dedicated transportation funds are consumed by maintenance and repairs.
The new revenues generated by our growing economy and the historic tax increases of 2003 have been spent on everything but transportation. The last budget cycle increased 20% but the transportation budget increased only 14%. So raising taxes is not the solution because when taxes revenues increase they don't spend it on roads anyway. Both the Governor and the General Assembly refuse to make transportation solutions the priority it needs to be. Northern Va has a higher than average percentage of public transportation usage and carpooling. Our traffic crisis is caused by the lack of adequate road infrastructure that state and local officials have refused to address.
As a special session of the General Assembly is being considered to deal with transportation, voters must let their Delegates and Senators know that we will not accept tricky schemes, higher taxes, or pushing the financial responsibility onto local governments as a means to pay for our roads. To raise the extra 1 billion Virginia should be spending on roads each year the General Assembly has three choices:
1) Increase the gas tax 20 cents per gallon,
2) Increase the sales tax by 1 penny per dollar spent (from 5 cents to 6) or
3) Reprioritize less than 3% of the state budget to build roads. I say Richmond must reprioritize the budget to spend the General Fund on necessities, such as new roads, rather than on pet projects and the Governor's legacy-building programs.
Additionally, it's no secret that the unelected NoVa Transportation Authority was even prioritizing spending on bike paths and bus shelters while anecdotes from Loudoun's residents report their daily commuting times have doubled in recent years. The reality is we need to build roads and the General Assembly and the state have a responsibility to pay for those roads from the General Fund. Transportation is a core State responsibility and not a financial obligation to be forced onto local governments due to negligence. State roads should be built using state funding. For decades the General Assembly has ignored plans for critically needed roads and bridges. Meanwhile, a larger and larger percent of the dedicated transportation funds are consumed by maintenance and repairs.
The new revenues generated by our growing economy and the historic tax increases of 2003 have been spent on everything but transportation. The last budget cycle increased 20% but the transportation budget increased only 14%. So raising taxes is not the solution because when taxes revenues increase they don't spend it on roads anyway. Both the Governor and the General Assembly refuse to make transportation solutions the priority it needs to be. Northern Va has a higher than average percentage of public transportation usage and carpooling. Our traffic crisis is caused by the lack of adequate road infrastructure that state and local officials have refused to address.
As a special session of the General Assembly is being considered to deal with transportation, voters must let their Delegates and Senators know that we will not accept tricky schemes, higher taxes, or pushing the financial responsibility onto local governments as a means to pay for our roads. To raise the extra 1 billion Virginia should be spending on roads each year the General Assembly has three choices:
1) Increase the gas tax 20 cents per gallon,
2) Increase the sales tax by 1 penny per dollar spent (from 5 cents to 6) or
3) Reprioritize less than 3% of the state budget to build roads. I say Richmond must reprioritize the budget to spend the General Fund on necessities, such as new roads, rather than on pet projects and the Governor's legacy-building programs.