Assembly needs to raise the gas tax

Tom Lee
Published: March 5, 2008

As a taxpaying resident of Virginia, I am requesting that our elected legislators have a serious discusion about raising the gas tax.

I don't want to pay higher taxes any more than the next person, but the gas tax, to my knowledge, is the tax that has always been used to fund VDOT, including all road maintenance and construction of new road projects. This tax has not been raised in more than 20 years while inflation has increased other prices dramatically, thereby reducing our ability to fund our own road maintenance and construction.

We have tried everything we can to avoid increasing the gas tax - including the recently rescinded abusive driver fees and the Regional Transportation Taxing Authorities, recently ruled unconstitutional. In addition, we are preparing to lease HOT lane toll collection on I-95 to a foreign-owned company for the next 80 years.

I, for one, object to a foreign company profiting from what we the citizens have already built and paid for. I believe that the interstates and every other road in this commonwealth belong to the citizens, and should not be leased without letting the citizens vote on this by referendum.

I support a 5-cent increase in the gas tax to take effect on July 1 of this year and ask that the legislature stop all discussion of tax authorities. I also request that our legislators stop trying to push taxing responsibilities down to local officials and instead keep it at the state level, where it has always been and where I believe it belongs.

A 5-cent gas tax increase is the most fair "user fee" we can implement. Everyone pays it, including out-of-state travelers.

The more you use the road, the more gas you buy, the more tax you pay.

We elected our leaders to do the difficult business of setting the right course for the commonwealth. This includes taking action even when the answer to the question of how to fund our roads is an answer that a lot of us don't want to hear.