Return to story

Simply taxing working Virginians is no transportation solution

September 6, 2006 12:50 am

FOR VIRGINIA'S General Assembly, transportation has eclipsed all other issues this year. For the last several years, the discussion of how the commonwealth should best address its current and future needs for roads and transit has dominated the public-policy debate in Richmond. The debate over transportation continues today, as the General Assembly prepares to resume its special session in the weeks ahead.

Because the debate over transportation improvements degenerated into a dispute over new and higher taxes, a resolution has been elusive. Recently, an independent public opinion survey of Virginians by Mason-Dixon Research offers legislators insight and guidance. According to the August 2006 poll, residents overwhelmingly expect lawmakers to improve Virginia's transportation network without raising taxes.

To some, this result seemed contradictory. Those advocating higher taxes maintain daily commutes cannot be shortened without increased revenues offsetting the expense.

Regrettably, the governor and his Senate allies have asserted that increasing taxes is the only way to improve transportation.

Encouragingly, the public appears to have wisely rejected this assertion.

The insistence of Virginians that transportation improvements be accomplished without raising taxes does not indicate residents expect something for nothing. It instead demonstrates an understanding that revenue alone will not reduce daily commutes.

Further, it instructs lawmakers that their constituents expect more from the ample funds already provided to government.

While Governor Kaine and the Virginia Senate have focused almost exclusively on increasing taxes to address transportation, Republicans in the House of Delegates have advanced a comprehensive approach. By implementing innovative solutions to improve the performance and accountability of VDOT, to better coordinating land use, to redirecting current revenues to transportation, to advancing opportunities for increased private-sector involvement, we can alleviate gridlock and reduce congestion.

Over the last few years, VDOT has made much of being "on time and on budget" with its projects. While this should be expected of any government agency, touting it as accomplishment only reinforces the public's already low expectations of government.

The focus of VDOT should be redirected--with a new emphasis on how effectively the priorities and projects it selects reduce the time spent commuting by residents.

Transportation in Virginia cannot be improved without addressing a root cause of congestion: growth. The commonwealth and its localities must improve coordination to ensure transportation plays a key role in land-use decisions. By placing greater responsibility regarding transportation at the local level, we could increase the responsiveness of the system overall.

Although the Public-Private Transportation Act of 1995 has been in force for over a decade, its potential positive effects have been unnecessarily limited. A mind-set favoring government solutions continues to prevail, as evidenced by the Kaine administration's decision to cede control of the Dulles Toll Road to another government-based authority, the Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority.

It is Virginia's commuters and taxpayers who pay the price of their government's unwillingness to fully utilize new approaches successfully employed in other states--and to seek out and embrace 21st-century transportation tools.

Although increasing funding for transportation is not the only route to improving transportation, providing additional funds is essential to addressing the challenge. How, then, can this be done without raising taxes? Instead of advocating a $1 billion annual tax increase, House Republicans prioritized state spending--increasing overall investments for education and other core services, while also dedicating $1.2 billion specifically for transportation.

Residents rightfully expect the commonwealth to live within its means. Just two years ago, Virginia enacted the largest tax increase in its history--resulting in record-setting budget surpluses. To voters, excess government revenues do not mean government is being better managed, but instead suggest taxpayers are being overcharged.

With spending increases averaging 19 percent in just two years, the public understandably expects lawmakers to prioritize state government's $73 billion budget to focus on core services needing the most attention. Since providing an adequate transportation system is a core government service in crisis, taxpayers justifiably insist a greater share of increased revenues be dedicated to that purpose.

In a 2005 campaign advertisement, candidate Tim Kaine stated, "We can't tax and pave our way out of traffic." So far, only House Republicans have heeded that maxim, seeking a common-sense balance between short-term results and long-term solutions to address transportation challenges.

If the residents of the commonwealth are fortunate, the governor will recommit himself to his earlier pledge--and convince his allies in the Senate to join him--by the time the General Assembly returns to Richmond to reform, fund, and improve transportation.

MARK L. COLE represents the 88th District--including Stafford, Spotsylvania, and Fauquier counties--as delegate.