On WTOP radio’s monthly “Ask the Governor” program, Kaine again declined to offer specifics on his replacement for last year’s transportation package, which was eviscerated by a Virginia Supreme Court ruling in February that tossed out the plan’s regional taxing authorities as unconstitutional.
Kaine has long suggested raising Virginia’s 3 percent car sales tax to the same 5 percent levied on other sales, which he said would raise $400 million a year.
He also raised the prospect Tuesday of a region-based gas tax for Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads instead of a statewide tax Republicans in the legislature have vowed to oppose. The assembly’s Democratic leadership has supported implementing a statewide gas tax.
“The way to solve our needs is not to just do one thing, you got to kind of spread the pain a little bit, and not have it just be in one area,” he said. “And that’s the right way to do it, and that will likely be the kind of guts of the plan that I propose.”
Kaine expects to call lawmakers back to Richmond for a special transportation session in June, as the General Assembly failed to reach a solution by the end of the regular session last month.
Del. David Albo, R-Springfield, one of the architects of the now largely defunct transportation package, said he won’t support any statewide plan that reallocates a portion of the money collected in Northern Virginia to other parts of the state.
Under the current funding formula, he said the region sees a return of 66 cents for every tax dollars it pays.
wflook@dcexaminer.com



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