Virginia Ping! If you want on or off the Virginia Ping List, please freepmail me.
Posted on 01/12/2013 3:31:23 PM PST by Libloather
Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell delivered his state of the Commonwealth address on Wednesday, marking his vision for the state as the General Assembly opens the 2013 session.
One of the most striking parts of his presentation is a proposal to eliminate Virginia’s 17.5-cent per gallon gasoline tax, and replace this portion of state roads funding with an increase in the state’s sales tax.
(Excerpt) Read more at vancnews.com ...
It’s probably a more equitable way to fund road maintenance, since everybody benefits from roads and many don’t buy gas. It always annoyed me that a portion of the roads are used for cyclists, and they don’t help support them.
Doesn’t sound good to me at all. Use taxes should be as close to the users as possible. Taxing gasoline is as close as you can get without intrusive methods such as recording individuals’ miles driven.
If states only had sales taxes then everyone would be paying their fair share of taxes, even the ones on public assistance.
The gas tax revenue has no where to go but down due to the MPG most new cars are getting today...
Just bought a used 2012 Versa...it gets 35 MPG city compared to the 23 MPG car my wife managed to kill...which means I am saving about 35 % of the new car payment each month just in gas..
I would guess $.175 cents per gallon tax would be somewhere around $20.00 per month per car...
Even a 1 % increase in sales tax on retail transactions would cost WAY more than $20.00 per car...
the gas tax is a lot more fair and even than a graduated income tax.
...to eliminate Virginia’s 17.5-cent per gallon gasoline tax, and replace this portion of state roads funding with an increase in the state’s sales tax.
Interested to hear what other Freepers think on this...
I kinda like the idea. As long as the sales tax is reasonable, this would be great for visitors to VA and transport/trucking companies.
VA already has reasonably priced gas. Drop it another 15-20 cents per gallon, and people travelling long distance will be sure to fill up in VA...then load up with other provisions inside the store.
In Florida a few years ago they were talking about replacing property taxes with an increase in sales taxes. Although it would mean 9-10% sales tax....it would have reduced property taxes and regenerated the housing market
Reply to . . . a portion of the roads are used for cyclists, and they don’t help support them. , , Show me the cyclist that doesn’t own a car - I’m an active cyclist, and own three cars, which get used often.
Better idea would be to increase vehicle registration fees and link them to annual mileage.
Don’t know about VA but in PA odometer readings are already in the DOT database for those who renew registrations by paper (not yet part of the on-line filing) and backed by the log kept by state-mandated safety inspection mechanics.
“Show me the cyclist that doesn’t own a car”
There were 208 million licensed drivers in the U.S. in 2011 out of 311 million. Plus a good percentage of licensed drivers don’t have a car. BTW, having three doesn’t count because you can only drive one at a time.
“Don’t know about VA but in PA odometer readings are already in the DOT database for those who renew registrations by paper (not yet part of the on-line filing) and backed by the log kept by state-mandated safety inspection mechanics.”
Obviously they won’t trust mileage readings on cars, since one can still “adjust” that quite easily (either with an alternate computer or alternate instrument cluster), so they would have to go to real-time monitoring of vehicles (either by transponder or license plate, or both).
Not something that I’m too hot on, which is one of the reasons I support a simple gas tax so strongly.
I’m absolutely against anything like this for 3 reasons.
1. Requires more bureaucracy. The last thing we need more of.
2. Requires more paperwork. The second to last thing we need more of.
3. Most important is that this is too intrusive. Big brother already knows more about us than is healthy. None of the government’s damn business how far I drive in a year or where.
DOT beaurocracy is already there and already gathering the data. Maybe need a couple more more techno-geeks to merge some existing databases. 2. Requires more paperwork. The second to last thing we need more of.
Again, already there. For me the additional might be typing in the odometer reading on the on-line registration renwal form. Seven keystrokes. 3. Most important is that this is too intrusive. Big brother already knows more about us than is healthy. None of the government’s damn business how far I drive in a year
They already "know"or where.
There I'm with you 100%--they already do "know" through my EZ-pass transponder about my toll road use. That's enough.
I gave up my EZ-pass. I miss the convenience.
I gave it up 90% because of the big brother factor and 10% because I’m opposed to toll roads as they now exist. My taxes go to subsidize roads all over the state, but the ones I want to drive on in my corner of the state have tolls. I’d rather take the slower route and deprive the government of the toll revenue. Why should drivers in the other parts of the state get to drive to work for free while I have to pay a daily toll after already paying the taxes to build them?
Virginia Ping! If you want on or off the Virginia Ping List, please freepmail me.
Va. governor’s proposal to eliminate gas taxes finds many fans among businesses
The other part of this proposal that is conveniently ignored is a $15/year increase in the vehicle registration fees.
I don’t like McDonnell. He is sneaky. Yeah, he can say he hasn’t raised taxes but he has raised every damn fee he sets eyes on.
VDOT is the most bloated, top heavy, wasteful agency in existence. I am opposed to giving them one more damn dime when they squander what they already get.
All this does is allow McDonnell to say “I eliminated the gas tax in my state. Now, vote for me for president.”
The Governor describes his plan on Neil Cavuto’s show on Fox News:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=V73m-aAHSjI
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