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Va. House panel kills governor’s bill as session recesses for two weeks
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WASHINGTON (Map, News) - A panel in Virginia’s Republican-led House scuttled Gov. Tim Kaine’s proposed $1.1 billion tax plan Thursday before lawmakers called a two-week hiatus to a special session that has seen little progress.
The delay, said House Democratic Caucus Chairman Del. Brian Moran, of Alexandria, has “no purpose.”
“We should stay and get this done,” said Moran, who backed the plan.
Republican delegates offered their own answer to the governor, putting forth a bill that would raise millions of dollars solely for projects in the state’s two most-congested urban regions — Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads — and leave local governments to raise some of the new taxes.
It is one of the two major surviving plans to raise transportation revenue during the four-day-old special session, along with a 6-cent increase in the gas tax statewide from Senate Majority Leader Richard Saslaw, D-Springfield. Both were sent to the House floor without a recommendation Thursday by the Rules Committee, which sunk Kaine’s package in an 11-4 vote.
The Republican plan, proposed by Del. Phil Hamilton, R-Newport News, is meant to replace the set of regional fees and levies passed by the legislature last year but tossed out by the Virginia Supreme Court in February. Hamilton said the bill would raise about $363 million a year in Northern Virginia, though opponents say some of that money is from a commercial tax increase already approved by local governments.
Proponents of Hamilton’s bill argue it would bring in transportation revenue for the areas that need it most while leaving out statewide tax increases that have proven to be poison for any legislation in the House.
“This is very important,” said Del. Tim Hugo, R-Centreville. “And I think it would be a mistake to sacrifice good regional plans because you want a statewide gas tax.”
Still, the regional tax plan could face problems both in the Senate, which is set on finding a way to close a growing gap in statewide road maintenance, and from local governments, which already have raised taxes to counter the tanking housing market and fund transportation.
Fairfax County Supervisor Sharon Bulova also criticized Hamilton’s bill for leaving revenue at the mercy of Northern Virginia localities.
“You’ve essentially got a balkanized tax revenue package that makes it difficult if not impossible to adopt a regional program and do regional projects,” she said.
DUELING PLANS
From Senate Democrats:
Statewide tax increases
- Gas tax 1 cent per year for six years
- 0.5 percent auto titling tax
- 0.25 percent sales tax, excluding food and drugs (Cuts of 0.5 percent to the sales tax on food)
Northern Virginia
- 0.5 percent sale tax
- 40 cent per $100 value grantor¹s tax
- $5 per day tax on hotel and motel stays
From House Republicans:
Northern Virginia
- $100 initial driver's license fee (excludes minors), collected by state
- 2 percent car rental tax, collected by state
- 40 cent per $100 value grantor¹s tax, collected by localities
- 2 percent tax on hotel and motel stays, collected by localities
Comments from Examiner Readers
8:50 PM MST on Thu., Jul. 3, 2008 re: "Hopes for Va. transportation plan dim"
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10:32 PM MST on Sat., Jun. 28, 2008
re: "Kaine touts public-private cooperation on transportation projects"
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9:46 AM MST on Thu., Jun. 26, 2008
re: "State Senate sends gas-tax increase to hostile House, which may kill bill"
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8:31 AM MST on Tue., Jun. 24, 2008
re: "Flurry of new solutions emerges, throwing tolls into the equation"
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8:38 AM MST on Mon., Jun. 23, 2008
re: "Lawmakers return to Richmond for transportation fight"
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11:34 AM MST on Thu., Feb. 14, 2008
re: "Fairfax largely rebuffed in legislature"
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Mexicans Without Borders must leave too!!!! said:
The Dems have too many solutions, unfortunately they all involve tax hikes. In a troubled economy, they must be crazy. LOL
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DemDistrustingKaine said:
Turning public assets--like toll roads--over to private interests sounds a great deal like what a fella' named Mussolini did. I contributed to and voted for a fella' named Kaine--not a Bloomberg or a Mussolini. My Democratic party forebears fought a war against that kind of "privatization" in FDR's times. I will not support Democrats of the Mussolini sort any more than FDR did.
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Examiner Reader said:
all new road taxes need to be paid by drivers,,not poor like me who cant affoard a car or to drive,,put your taxes on all transportation products,,like ,gas,oil,tires,repairs like breaks,you drive it you pay for it,,and if you cant afford a car..park it like me,,but quite takin my food money!!
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Examiner Reader said:
its a aggravation to have to plunk down 1.25 every time i go through there if there was another way we could capture revenue state wide i rather do that so tax payers could pay my 1.25 for me while i drive on the dullas toll road,hummm i live in danville va why should i pay xtra taxes to cover your 1.25 for driveing on the toll road when i have never in my life drove on it,if u dont like the aggravation of paying the 1.25 for driveing on dullas toll roads then stay away from them if u drive them to a big money job then quit crying about the 1.25 mabe hampton and richmond could use a few toll roads they are stuck in grid lock anyway would be easy to collect tolls tons of cars there if grid locked thats a nice hunk of money do that and put that toll money towards fixing hamptons and richmonds roads they useum let them pay forum.
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Examiner Reader said:
Mr Kaine. I got your money right here. It's called putting the Dulles Metrorail Project out to a good, fair process of bidding. That should free up some money for you. Or, are you so deep under the covers with Bechtel right now that you can't see the light?
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Examiner Reader said:
What, Gerry's not out of touch, is he?
44 agree | 36 disagree
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