The Virginian-Pilot
©
RICHMOND
The proposal to place tolls on two Hampton Roads bridge-tunnels breathed its last Tuesday - for this General Assembly session, at least.
Del. Joe May's bill, HB1323, would have imposed a $2 toll on the Hampton Roads and Monitor-Merrimac Memorial bridge-tunnels to pay for operation, maintenance and repairs. The House Transportation Committee, which he chairs, voted to carry the measure over to a future legislative session.
May, R-Clarke County, suggested that course of action after running into opposition from Hampton Roads lawmakers. He said he hopes his proposal might be taken up if there is a special session later this year to address transportation problems statewide.
"I didn't expect anybody to love it," May said. "But you have very few other alternatives."
Some Hampton Roads lawmakers said they felt sandbagged by their Northern Virginia colleague.
"To some of us," said Del. John Cosgrove, R-Chesapeake, "this sounded like the first shot in the Second War of Northern Aggression."
Delicious
Digg
Reddit
Facebook
Twitter
Google
Yahoo
ridiculous
Cosgrove, the Governor, and the anti tax majority in the House of Delegates have so poisoned the citizen's view of new revenue for transportation that it is simply incomprehensible to think that will actually occur with them in office. The fairy tale that we have sufficient revenue has become fact in the view of the electorate. So let's just realize that we need to focus on high speed rail, light rail, and public transit, because no emergency is large enough to change a decade of ill advised language like what Cosgrove has uttered. Does any reasonable citizen really believe we can repair our roads and bridges, much less build new ones, with a revenue source that has lost 60% of its buying power since last raised in 1987? Since guys like Cosgrove won't lead, who will?
Once again I ask
Where is all the money we already pay?
Northern Aggression?
Is that it? How about real solutions to the problem of roads. That's simply a crazy person's copout when they're willing to use a war of massive historical importance, and scaring, one might add, and applying to today's transpotation problems is weak and exhibits a poorly thought out, if at all, position.
I guess we can use North Carolina's roads to get to work in Charlotte.
NC Wildhorses
Maryland has a higher gas tax than Virginia while NoVa gas prices are the same as Maryland’s. Republican “Free market” gas companies in Virginia making PURE profit – as the banks with your credit card---Fed loan rate of ZERO percent and banks charging 15 to 30 per cent plus on a charge card (Republican free market, you know the business people know how to run their business (politicians) better than…then again, they know how to maximize profit, generating share holder profits at the expense of “Blue Collar Joe”. By the way, how is “Joe”? The guy who did not pay his taxes, but herald as a Republican hero!
No “Joe” taxes in Virginia just give money (incentives) to business to come to the Commonwealth, and then cut corporate taxes (pay no taxes) and everything will be fine.
The economy is expanding. NO NEW TAXES!
Tunnel tolls
Thank you Hampton Roads and Peninsula lawmakers for using common sense for allowing this bill to "die a natural death" - How fair is it for those of us who work on the "other side" to foot the bill on a daily basis. I'm a single mom driving back and forth to my job...Right now, I do not need a paycut. I'm certainly not getting any raises anytime soon in this economic downturn. Tunnel tolls would mean a paycut for me. I'm sure that our lawmakers will listen to their constiuents and come up with a common sense approach to this never-ending problem. I would be more than willing to pay a few cents more for my gas in knowing that we all would be sharing the burden (tourists, people passing through Virginia and each and every one of us using the roads)...I know that we all have to tighten our belts and make sacrafices, but let's share the burden with everyone...NOVA drivers, too....
reply
You use the tunnel daily. Why shouldn't you pay for it. I never use the thing, why should I pay for it with my tax dollars? Usage tax is the most fair way to tax. You use it, you pay for it!
Usage tax
If you want a usage tax, you let me know when I can stop paying taxes that go towards public schools, section 8, food stamps, etc.
sounds good
sounds good to me...ever heard of the fair tax?
Tolls suck. But I don't go
Tolls suck. But I don't go anywhere near these tunnels - and right now, I'm paying for your commute.
And I don't have children, but I still paid
taxes towards public education.
If the mindset is that we only pay for what we use, what would everyone on section 8 and food stamps do? LOL