Posted on 06/25/2004 5:48:02 AM PDT by I have__no name
Edited on 07/20/2004 11:52:13 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
The Virginia Senate's top budget writer is suggesting the road to a better highway system will be paved with new taxes.
Without endorsing specific levies, Senate Finance Committee Chairman John H. Chichester, R-Stafford, said yesterday that those who use the cash-starved highway network should pay for improvements.
(Excerpt) Read more at timesdispatch.com ...
ohfercryinoutloud - I knew back in 1985 that Chichester was a little off balance.
But he's LOST HIS FLIPPIN' MIND.
FWIW - I got a letter from Jerry Kilgore (granted a fundraiser) that STRONGLY talks about how they screwed us over on the budget. Count on it being a major campaign theme.
There is no answer, easy or hard. They've been throwing money at NoVA traffic for years, it can't be fixed.
No need to dig any deeper in my pocket to accomplish nothing.
I'm simply stating if they made public transportation cheaper it may sway drivers to use the system and boost revenue for the states highway system. This is only one possibility.
He is not running for re-election, and I think he cares more for how he is viewed by State employees than how his constituents view him. You gotta give him some credit for honesty. When he ran against his Republican challenger, he quite openly courted Democrats and emphasized "fully funding core services" (there are no non-core services, I think.) We had some idea where he stood before he won re-election.
It is a shame that no one ever seems to "grow" more conservative in office. But it makes sense. Who wants to work hard to become boss of some organization, only to downsize the organization and be master of less?
His brother (the local prosecutor) is quite nice. He makes the most beautiful furniture I have ever seen in my life, and I have seen some very nice furniture. I would not be a bit surprised if he is a little more conservative, but I cannot know for sure. If he could convince folks that he would not be a big tax raiser, perhaps he would be a good person to replace his brother.
I think you're right.
Senate Finance chief says those who use highways must pay for improvements
The Federal bureaucracy is liability for those who don't live in NoVA. Now the overpaid Federal workers want us to make their commute more comfortable? Not if I can help it.
I couldn't make enough money to justify the commute when I lived in Tidewater, so I moved. I didn't sit around whining trying to get some poor sap taxpayer in Buena Vista to pay my way.
Did you guys wanna ping "he-who-must-not-read-anything-but-the-Compost" to this thread?
Some use and/or benefit more than others.
True, so every resident of Virginia should be prorated for a cost benefit profile?
Should just truckers and commuters pay (toll)?
Should just the taxpayers in the area directly affected pay (regional taxation)?
People should make an honest effort to live and work in the same area. It might mean selling their home every few years if their job moves, or keeping a job for a few extra years or finding a new job in the area if canned - but I think it would be worth it.
I don't agree with those scenarios......however, I don't see why those who live in totally rural areas, with the majority of traffic being out of state tourists, should pay for the problems caused by those who permitted their own urban sprawl problems.
Er, no. If one compares the amount of tax money generated in each region with the amount of funding provided to build roads there, it is evident that Richmond has been "throwing money" at the paving of cow paths is the remote hinterlands.
See previous message. In Virginia, it is the people living in rural areas who are the leeches, reaping double and triple what they pay in transportation taxes in road work.
I wish some work was done on the roads around here.
I would say a good 75%+ of traffic on Rte 13 on the Shore consists of out-of-state vehicles and truck traffic - not the locals. Many of the roads I use in order to avoid 13 are 2 lane black top with no markings and no shoulders and the majority are prone to flooding with the least bit of rain.
The only road work I have seen, other than an occassional bit of stripe painting, is on Rte. 13.
I am not begrudging those with traffic and road problems such as those that exist in NoVA.....but the locals in the rural areas didn't cause those problems, and generally haven't caused the problems in the rural areas either.
And this is not a problem specific to Virginia, rural or otherwise - it happens everywhere.
Do I have a solution? No.........but I do think better utilization of land-use planning is a good start.
The Federal bureaucrats and their supporting cast who live in the DC metro area are the ones who work full time leeching off the taxpayers of the entire United States. They are the professional parasites.
They rural handout recipients wouldn't get a dime without the Federalisimos in DC empowering the government to take it from someone.
Let 'em walk to what passes for "work" up there.
I think he's right. A user fee is the way to go. Those who use and benefit from roads should pay for them. It would mean dropping other taxes, of course. Somehow I don't think that's quite what the RINO Chichester had in mind.
You're changing the subject. The issue is that downstate VA leeches off the transportation taxes paid by NoVA.
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