The man who should be Speaker had this to say about the transportation session (including the abomination known as HB6055):
Can Virginia fix transportation without raising taxes? Yes, but unless you contact House of Delegates members before July 9 you may be facing higher taxes and fees, not just from Democrats who want higher auto, sales, real property and gas taxes, but from Republicans too!
Tax/fee increases are in the Republican Transportation Bill, H.B. 6055 pushed by Republican Speaker Bill Howell.
The bill authorizes Northern Virginia counties and cities to increase the sales tax on home and commercial property sales (grantor’s tax) of an additional $0.40 cents per $100 of the sale price. Last year the Assembly authorized No VA localities to impose an additional tax on commercial real estate of $0.25 per $100 for roads and transit.
This tax can never be rescinded by the local governments as long as there is any outstanding debt for Northern Virginia projects funded by this tax!
While HB 6055 provides that funds raised in No. VA are to be spent only for No VA transportation projects, it may be diverted to other uses and areas of Virginia “as may be required by any other law.” HB 6055 also adds $100 to the cost of a new driver’s license.
Hampton Roads residents will pay $20 more for a registration fee and $20 more for inspection fees. HB 6055 authorizes a real estate tax increase on all property of $0.10 cents per $100. It diverts up to $250 million in yet to be collected taxes from business and individuals in the cargo container business to Hampton Roads transportation projects.
With Virginia families facing falling home prices, increased real property taxes, skyrocketing gas and food prices, an 18% electric rate hike for Dominion, a 6.4% monthly increase in natural gas prices, almost five decades of federal deficit spending, and a devalued dollar, the General Assembly should not raise taxes and fees.
If we say yes to a tax increase again, what happens when the next “crisis” happens a few years from now? Enough is enough. Taxpayers are not bottomless ATM machines.
Rather than raise taxes, the legislature should support changing work schedules, use toll and fare supported transportation bonds, set up bio-fuel capture centers in Virginia, make state government more efficient and spend the savings on roads and transit.
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 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, despite Rule 37 of the House of Delegates which provides that: “The Clerk shall, under the direction of the Speaker, refer all such original papers (i.e. bills) to the proper committee…” Nearly all bills introduced into the special session that would reduce expenses and use the money saved for roads and transit have been referred to the House Rules Committee, Chaired by Speaker Bill Howell, so he can kill them.
See http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?083+com+H20N01 for all bills referred to the House Rules committee for the special transportation session. For Delegate Marshall’s bills see http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?083+mbr+H57C.
To find out how to contact your state delegate and senator (or learn who they are) go to:
Cross-posted to Bloggers 4 Bob Marshall 4 Speaker
June 30, 2008 at 3:50 pm |
[...] 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 [...]
June 30, 2008 at 5:40 pm |
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.
June 30, 2008 at 10:34 pm |
Honestly, Tyler, this is embarrassing. Every Virginian benefits from my subdivision streets? That’s not logic; that’s socialist dogma.
July 1, 2008 at 1:37 am |
It is stunning what Bill Howell is doing in Republicans’ name. When is the caucus going to wake up and realize that he is toxic. Flouting the House rules is the last straw. Enough is enough.
July 1, 2008 at 1:45 am |
[...] continues to spread As Shaun Kenney goes all in, reprinting Bob Marshall’s fantastic message on HB6055, another western blogger takes note of the danger (SWAC Girl). The revolt is [...]
July 5, 2008 at 5:53 pm |
[...] solutions for transportation We’ve mentioned Bob Marshall’s bills before, but there’s no reason not to highlight them again, as Jim Bowden [...]
July 6, 2008 at 10:03 pm |
[...] DC Examiner lists what is apparently the Republican House leadership plan here. Right-Wing Liberal here reports delegate Bob Marshall’s comments on this proposed Republican tax hike. Americans for [...]