What’s our logical alternative?

Nelson Graves
Published: May 14, 2008

You know we’re in trouble when the state’s leading conservative newspaper, the Richmond Times-Dispatch, agrees with Gov. Timothy M. Kaine’s proposal to raise taxes to pay for Virginia’s transportation needs.
On Monday, the governor offered his proposal to fix Virginia’s transportation problems by raising taxes in four ways. He recommended increasing motor vehicle titling taxes from 3 percent to 4 percent, vehicle registration fees from $39 to $49, regional sales taxes from 5 percent to 6 percent in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads and the statewide grantors tax, paid by the seller of property, from 10 cents to 35 cents per $100 of assessed value.
Per Tuesday’s RTD front page report, Kaine’s “proposal would raise $859 million in new transportation funding in fiscal 2009. That figure would rise to $1.08 billion in fiscal 2014.
According to the report by RTD staff-writers, it didn’t take long for the Republican-led House to proclaim Kaine’s proposal “dead on arrival.” I’m sure the conservative Republican response was expected but as the editorial page asked, what else can be done?
The quick-fix compromise the governor and General Assembly reached in the 2007 session wasn’t fair to lawbreaking state drivers, and has been repealed. The regional authority concept that allowed a Northern Virginia commission to raise taxes was declared illegal by the state Supreme Court. So, it’s back to the drawing boards.
Last February, I attended a company-sponsored retreat in Richmond, where Kaine’s chief of staff, Wayne Turnage, addressed us. After he’d finished his presentation about Virginia’s financial condition, including the state’s transportation issues, he asked for questions. 
I asked if the governor and General Assembly were against raising taxes, why didn’t Kaine suggest gambling as a remedy. He said, in effect, that Kaine wasn’t going to be the leader who suggested gambling as a cure for our transportation ills.
A few weeks ago, using the brainstorming approach, the Times-Dispatch invited anyone with an idea of how to fix our transportation dilemma to do so by submitting op-ed piece suggestions. (For the record, I submitted my gambling solution to the paper but have yet to have it published.)
Even if Kaine’s proposal passes in the upcoming June special General Assembly session, I suspect that the predicted revenue that higher taxes is supposed to generate is a bit ambitious. With gas prices approaching $4 a gallon by the end of May and maybe $5 by year’s end (my predictions) they will have a negative domino effect on sales of food, goods, services, automobiles and property. That would reduce tax revenues as people are forced to pinch pennies.
It will be interesting to see what fixes our non-compromising state Republicans come up with. I hope they’re not like the conservative radio and television pundits.
They find fault with all things Democratic – higher taxes, price controls on gas and presidential candidates – but offer no viable alternatives.
As for Virginia’s transportation needs, if not higher taxes – the answer is ...

Nelson Graves, Western Virginia director of the Virginia Minority Supplier Development Council, writes a weekly column for The News Virginian. E-mail him at .