McDonnell’s transportation plan puts us in reverse

Shane Wade
Opinion Editor

It’s 2013, but Gov. Bob McDonnell’s latest plan for addressing Virginia’s enormous transportation issue seems to rooted in another time period. His proposal to eliminate the gas tax, raise sale taxes and institute fees of hybrid and alternative-fuel cars reeks of backwards thinking and political maneuvering.

The plan, passed by the General Assembly two days ago, will raise about $880 million annually by cutting the gas tax by a fifth, from 17.5 percent to 3.5 percent, and adjusting it to the price of inflation, raise the sales tax from 5 percent to 5.3 percent and divert 0.67 percent of general sales tax revenue to transportation. It also would increase the car titling tax from 3 percent to 4.3 percent, increase the tax on motor vehicle sales and restore the previous eliminated $100 annual fee on alternative-fuel vehicles.

In short, it’s a shell game that nickels and dimes the public to death.

Of all people, Republicans should be against this plan. They often decry the redistribution of wealth, but, under this plan, there’s a redistribution of wealth in the form of funding.

Essentially, the plan advocates for a form of regressive taxation because cutting the gas tax only benefits those that would have driven on the roads anyway and sales taxes are always regressive because they’re unavoidable. The wealthy can afford a 0.3 percent increase on the cost of their groceries; the poor can’t.

It’s not just Virginia residents who pay our gas tax; out-of-state tourist traveling through Virginia pay it as well. A small increase in the sales tax doesn’t affect them as much and the elimination of the gas tax allows them to cruise on our roads for a lower cost.

In all honesty, a $100 annual fee on hybrid owners isn’t much cause for concern, especially when taking into account their massive fuel savings at a period where gas prices are rapidly approaching $4 per gallon here in Virginia. Those who have the money to buy a hybrid will still buy one.

But putting the responsibility on hybrid owners to subsidize the roads driven on by mostly petroleum-based vehicles isn’t an inefficient use of legislation. $100 doesn’t cover the cost of wear and tear on public roads or make up for the revenue lost by cutting the gas tax; eventually, legislators may choose to raise that annual fee or place additional taxes on owners of hybrid vehicles.

Moreover, it awkwardly ignores that hybrid vehicles also use gas, albeit not to the extent that other vehicles do.

In attempting to make up for lost revenue on the gas taxes that he’s attempting to eliminate, McDonnell missed his chance to establish an agreeable and efficient means to acquire funds from gas-less vehicles and revolutionize the way we pay for the roads we drive on.

Instead of a gas tax or more “user/owner” taxes that penalize consumers prior to their use of the vehicle, we need to move to a “usage” tax-model that taxes people in relation to how often or much they use roadways.

It’s shameful how both Democrats and Republicans within the General Assembly have thrown in with a plan so full of flaws. Any economist worth their degree could point out that the plan doesn’t incentivize consumers to be more cautious in their driving habits, discourage wasteful behaviors or implement appropriately leveled taxes upon individual users.

At the end of the day, it’s a crapshoot of miscellaneous taxes geared at perpetuating the status quo of Virginia’s horrendous road infrastructure, failing the revolutionize or maximize our transportation efficiency.