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View Poll Results: Should VA raise the gas tax for road improvements
Absolutely! 5 38.46%
No 8 61.54%
Voters: 13. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 02-02-2011, 11:57 AM
 
1,790 posts, read 6,517,023 times
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So, this is a sore subject (taxes) amongst us all but I am wondering if VA should raise taxes to pay for road building/improvements/mass transit. If you take a look at this map you can see VA has one of the lowest rates in all surrounding states. Only SC has a lower rate (16.8 vs 19.5 for VA) and SC is way smaller than VA. I do realize you can't pave your way to 'freedom' (think Houston or Atlanta) but it does seem we could do better.
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Old 02-02-2011, 04:27 PM
 
2,776 posts, read 3,594,597 times
Reputation: 2312
Quote:
Originally Posted by citydweller View Post
So, this is a sore subject (taxes) amongst us all but I am wondering if VA should raise taxes to pay for road building/improvements/mass transit. If you take a look at this map you can see VA has one of the lowest rates in all surrounding states. Only SC has a lower rate (16.8 vs 19.5 for VA) and SC is way smaller than VA. I do realize you can't pave your way to 'freedom' (think Houston or Atlanta) but it does seem we could do better.

More people live here now, so more gas is consumed, raising more revenue.

The rate is fine.
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Old 02-02-2011, 06:39 PM
 
Location: Spartanburg, SC
4,899 posts, read 7,445,513 times
Reputation: 3875
Quote:
Originally Posted by citydweller View Post
So, this is a sore subject (taxes) amongst us all but I am wondering if VA should raise taxes to pay for road building/improvements/mass transit. If you take a look at this map you can see VA has one of the lowest rates in all surrounding states. Only SC has a lower rate (16.8 vs 19.5 for VA) and SC is way smaller than VA. I do realize you can't pave your way to 'freedom' (think Houston or Atlanta) but it does seem we could do better.
Maybe Virginia is #1 in business because of low gas taxes. Think about it, any kind of business relies somehow on transportation costs.

No! Do not raise any kind of taxes that could negatively impact business. We need all the jobs we can get!
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Old 02-03-2011, 04:55 AM
 
3,378 posts, read 3,706,841 times
Reputation: 710
NO WAY! Once you start on that slippery slope there is no turning back.
I thought the "car tax" was suposed to help with transportation?
What about all the toll money? Parking tickets? Liquor revenue?
Also, (DC) metro must be making a killing, but the money disappears. Where does it go?
Any Virginian who wants to raise taxes needs to move to another state, or accept the fact that their opinion will be opposed big-time!
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Old 02-03-2011, 07:09 AM
 
Location: Richmond, VA
1,799 posts, read 6,316,015 times
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Won't more fuel efficient cars, hybrids, and electric cars mean less gas tax revenue? I don't think the answer is to punish people who are by these cars and we all benefit by better fuel efficiency standards.

So how will Virginia pay for more roads and the cost of maintaining an ever growing and deteriorating infrastructure with less revenue? The argument that the gov't wastes money only goes so far... VDOT could be run more efficiently than the best corporation in the world and the numbers still don't add up. People want more, bigger, better roads and want to pay less for them. Does this notion appear sustainable?
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Old 02-03-2011, 10:39 AM
Status: "Let this year be over..." (set 20 days ago)
 
Location: Where my bills arrive
19,219 posts, read 17,085,392 times
Reputation: 15538
Raising the fuel tax might help; but I would only consider it if the money was specifically identified for a specific purpose such as non-interstate roads. I agree VDOT has shown themselves to be a bad steward of their money.

Perhaps the time has come that the state maintain only the state roads and the counties take over all others. I know this is herasy but give each county their allocated fund and let them determine how/when to fix them.
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Old 02-04-2011, 08:33 AM
 
Location: Thornrose
894 posts, read 2,315,096 times
Reputation: 1308
There are too many roads as is. If the tax went towards mass rail on a whole state level, then I'd be for it. But just to keep building and widening roads? No. The only two areas I think really need an improvement are i64 between Richmond and Hampton Roads. I can't believe it's only 4 lanes as is. And Charlottesville needs a bypass around the city so passersby don't have to go through the city if they don't need to. Otherwise, no more roads, more rail!
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Old 02-04-2011, 07:51 PM
 
Location: On the Rails in Northern NJ
12,380 posts, read 26,848,855 times
Reputation: 4581
Quote:
Originally Posted by ShadowBat View Post
There are too many roads as is. If the tax went towards mass rail on a whole state level, then I'd be for it. But just to keep building and widening roads? No. The only two areas I think really need an improvement are i64 between Richmond and Hampton Roads. I can't believe it's only 4 lanes as is. And Charlottesville needs a bypass around the city so passersby don't have to go through the city if they don't need to. Otherwise, no more roads, more rail!
Your state just voted to build more roads and endorse sprawl....idk why though. Many states are reversing...
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Old 02-07-2011, 10:26 AM
 
Location: Roanoke VA
2,032 posts, read 6,889,299 times
Reputation: 929
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nexis4Jersey View Post
Your state just voted to build more roads and endorse sprawl....idk why though. Many states are reversing...
Our right wing politcians in Richmond are in bed with the home builders, construction companies, oil companies and just about every big business concern that is NOT worried about our big transportation mess. Transportation is the life of the economy and just building more roads, sprawl is not the future.
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