Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Editorial: A $600 million transportation hole
Virginia's road system needs a lot of cash, but House Republicans don't even want to consider taxes. Where will the money come from?
From the RoundTable blog
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So far it's been easier to rule out ways the General Assembly and Gov. Tim Kaine may respond to the gutting of last year's transportation compromise by the Virginia Supreme Court. The actual steps that can be taken to reconstruct a transportation initiative are harder to predict.
Since the Supreme Court shot down the idea of allowing unelected regional transportation authorities to levy taxes, some Republicans are suggesting granting the taxing power to localities.
Kaine dismissed that suggestion. "The court said, 'General Assembly, if you want to do this, you got to do it yourself,'" Kaine said. "Asking local governments to take the hard work of getting somebody else to do your job, ain't a solution."
Kaine is right: Pushing the burden and responsibility of increasing taxes onto local officials is not a good solution. But he's wrong to suggest the Supreme Court ruling precluded such action. It did not.
But there's a good reason the transportation package didn't go that route last year: The General Assembly can lead localities to water, but it can't make them tax. Some local officials, desperate for relief from traffic congestion, might institute the taxes. But not all would, which would defeat the regional approach.
Meanwhile, Del. David Albo, R-Fairfax, doesn't like the idea of having the General Assembly levy the regional taxes because he fears the money won't stay where it's collected. "I don't trust Richmond not to steal my money from my region," Albo told The Washington Post.
Other Republicans seem disinclined to act because, while it was fine to let others raise taxes, they can't make themselves do it.
"It's always been our concern to vote for a lot of new taxes, particularly now that we're in a recession. I just think there's a natural inclination to look at different ways of doing it," House Speaker William Howell, R-Stafford, told the Newport News Daily Press.
Someone needs to break the news to House Republicans: They are running out of options. No one disputes the notion that the state transportation system needs a serious infusion of cash, especially in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads, which are both nearing gridlock.
But all the relatively politically painless ways of raising that money have either been utilized or eliminated.
The Supreme Court decision erased about $600 million in annual transportation funding. House Republicans think they can replace that without raising taxes. It will be interesting to see them try.
