Dan Genz, The Examiner
2008-01-09 08:00:00.0
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Richmond -

The Virginia Supreme Court on Tuesday sharply questioned the General Assembly’s tax plan to raise more than $335 million for Northern Virginia transportation projects.

All seven justices at the Richmond hearing asked questions digging into the General Assembly’s decision last year to allow the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority to use seven taxes and fees to fund regional road and transit projects, but also strongly questioned its critics.

Loudoun County and several Republican politicians challenged the NVTA’s powers to tax and borrow that took effect Jan. 1, saying only elected officials have that authority.

Justice Barbara Milano Keenan asked, if the Supreme Court finds the NVTA’s actions constitutional, whether lawmakers could create more regional boards with taxing authority that are not directly responsible to voters.

“Is there any limit at all?” Keenan asked. “Could we literally have hundreds and thousands of these?

Citing other special tax subdivisions like sanitation authorities and mostly extinct drainage districts, NVTA and state attorneys argued the state already does.

Rejecting the taxing power as unconstitutional “would be in the face of the long history of this commonwealth with hundreds of authorities” with similar powers, NVTA attorney Bill Broadus said.

Chief Justice Leroy Rountree Hassell Sr. questioned if rejecting the NVTA’s taxing authority would uproot dozens of other governmental offshoots with bonding power, such as industrial development authorities.

Broadus argued the General Assembly had the compelling rational reason, in trying to deal with Northern Virginia’s dreadful traffic congestion, to approve the taxes. But justices asked if the move was legal.

It was not clear Tuesday how long the justices would take before rendering a verdict.

An Arlington Circuit Court judge upheld the authority’s power in an August ruling, and the NVTA began collecting the taxes Jan. 1.

If the court upholds the taxes, “This destroys representative government,” said Del. Bob Marshall, R-Prince William.

A leading politician challenging the tax plan and a candidate for a U.S. Senate seat in 2008, Marshall said, “It’s very clear the NVTA is arguing the General Assembly could give its taxing authority to private citizens.”

dgenz@dcexaminer.com