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The Virginia House of Delegates is working hard to choose financial plans wisely--no new taxes required

Date published: 3/7/2006

DURING MY MILITARY career, I learned the art of bartering in local marketplaces from Syria to South Korea. It required patience and the ability to see a deal for what it was worth. So, too, Virginians must decide which of the three competing transportation plans to support, as the General Assembly and the governor struggle to address our transportation issues.

When Gov. Tim Kaine was a candidate, he stressed his opposition to tax hikes for transportation until the Transportation Trust Fund was constitutionally protected from raids by other spending.

In fact, five days prior to the election, Kaine said, "I'm not going to be in for tax increases because we did it in 2004 and we're going to have to live within our means" (Nov. 3, 2005, Tim Kaine on WRVA-AM radio in Richmond).

But he promptly submitted a $3 billion tax hike, knowing well we were far from completing the process to constitutionally protect the TTF.

Not to be outdone, the Senate submitted a $4 billion tax boost that exceeds the gargantuan $1.5 billion it passed in 2004. "It worked then, why not again?" they're reasoning.

Nevermind that we have a $1.4 billion surplus right now.

Nevermind that the surplus in the past 30 days has been revised upward $163 million dollars by the Kaine administration.

Nevermind that since 2004, Virginia's surplus has grown to over $3 billion, not including recent tax increases.

Never mind that people have to sell their homes in Northern Virginia because they are being priced out of them by soaring property assessments and taxes.

Bottom line: Gov. Kaine and the Senate want you to pay more.

But the House of Delegates has a better idea. We have introduced our comprehensive transportation plan that: (1) manages growth in a sensible manner; (2) transforms how transportation serv-ices are organized, planned, and delivered; and (3) makes a major investment by dedicating and sustaining revenue for targeted solutions that actually reduce congestion and increase mobility--without raising taxes.

In regard to growth, we are enacting better land-use reforms, as well as improving how localities create comprehensive plans in coordination with VDOT. We are expanding local ability to collect cash proffers from developers to help pay for roads.

We are adding to our popular "transportation matching fund" that helps localities build roads faster.

In reforming VDOT, the House plan increases private-public partnerships, provides for more cost-effective and time-saving procurement methods, expedites new technologies to improve traffic capacity, makes dangerous drivers pay for the negative effect they have on traffic, and creates more legislative oversight of how VDOT spends our money.

More importantly, the House plan increases funding for transportation by over $2 billion in the next four years--without raising taxes amid major surplus growth. This additional $2 billion builds on the $9 billion we already have in this and the next bienniums, bringing our total investment to over $20 billion in four years.

Date published: 3/7/2006