It’s now official. Stafford Co. Republicans are to the right of the most conservative newspaper in the commonwealth. To Stafford GOP Chair Susan Stimpson, they have this to say:
In her letter (”Raising the gasoline tax isn’t the answer”), Mrs. Stimpson stole the words right out of House Speaker Bill Howell’s mouth when she accused us of being “out of touch by calling for a 40 percent increase of the current gas tax.” Oh, what a naughty use of the “%” key!
“Forty percent” sounds big, which is the effect Mrs. Stimpson intends. But it isn’t very big when the numbers referenced are small. If the price of penny candy rises to two cents, for example, you must pay 100 percent more for a piece. But the “felt difference” between one cent and two is nil. To return to gasoline, Virginians pay 38 cents in taxes on each gallon they buy. We’ve advocated a 10-cent increase in gasoline taxes, which would raise about half the $1 billion per year in new income Virginia needs to fix and build mobility infrastructure. What we’re proposing, then, is a 26 percent bump-up in the current gas tax. At the pump this translates to about $1.50 more per fill-up for the average car or small truck.
It gets better
House Republicans oppose abortions except, alas, in the form of transportation plans. If the 2007 transportation “reform” package chiefly promoted by Mr. Howell (and weakly acquiesced to by Mr. Kaine) wasn’t a partially birthed thing, what would be? Almost every component went up in smoke. Enhanced bad-driver fees? Repealed after enraged Virginians all but rolled tumbrels toward Capitol Square. Indefinite surpluses? Check your stocks. Regional-government taxing authorities? Struck down by the state Supreme Court. That leaves borrowing–as if public debt service, which eats up an increasing proportion of the VDOT budget, were somehow superior to public taxation–and some miscellaneous fee tinkering.
Oh, and here’s one of the reader comments left on the FLS website underneath the article, from ‘LibBuster’ (ooooh scary):
I know numbers, data, facts, reason and logic can be behind the comprehension of many on the Left, but more people equals more cars equals more traffic. The root cause of traffic congestion is population growth and immigration is the root cause of population growth.
The Onion, eat your heart out.
Filed under: Local Media, Local Politics, Uncategorized
