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Fix
VDOT First
Tim
Kaine wants to raise taxes by $600 per Virginia
family to fund transportation -- even though the
Virginia Department of Transportation is broken
and leaderless.
Gov.
Timothy M. Kaine and Republicans in the state
Senate are pushing hard for yet another tax
increase on Virginia families. Almost
unbelievably, one of the tax proposals on the
table would take nearly $600 per year from each
family in Virginia -- and that’s on top of
the $800 per year hit Virginia’s families took
in 2004.
Proponents
of the tax increase have gone so far now as to
spread half-truths about the amount of taxes
Virginians pay. In recent weeks tax proponents
have began waving a new study that claims Virginia
is one of the lowest taxed states in the Union.
This of course used to be the case. The Joint
Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC)
recently released a study that put Virginia 41st
in total tax burden on its citizens. Sounds
great doesn’t it? The problem, however, is that
JLARC used information from 2002.
Since
that time Virginia has continually climbed the
charts of the most overtaxed states in the
country. After the 2004 tax increase of $1.4
billion the Commonwealth jumped ten spots, to 31st
in the country. If the current tax hike proposals
were to pass our ranking would jump to 17th. In
addition to the state burden the real estate boom
of the past five years has pushed Virginia from
31st to 20th in local tax burden.
We
should not be surprised that those supporting the
tax increase use data that will support their
position, even if that data is not current;
however, we should expect more from those who
claim to protect the interest of the “Average
Joe”.
Putting
aside the argument on how quickly the tax burden
in Virginia is growing, we should look at these
tax hike proposals from a different angle and
question whether, in policy terms, we are putting
the cart before the horse. VDOT is broken. And the
“Average Joe” might ask: Shouldn’t VDOT be
fixed before we pour more money into that broken
system?
For
almost nine months, there has been no permanent
Commissioner of Transportation in the
Commonwealth. That’s right—VDOT has no
permanent leadership. Gov. Kaine continually
claims that transportation is a top priority of
his administration, yet the vitally important role
of Commissioner to oversee transportation has
remained vacant, without the expectation of a
candidate to fill the position until Spring.
On
top of the lack of permanent leadership, VDOT and
Gov. Kaine’s administration have repeatedly
taken official positions against legislative
accountability over the Department. Yet one of the
core principals of our Republic is citizen
oversight of the government through their elected
representatives. Whether it is your local town
hall, the General Assembly, or Congress,
legislative oversight should always take place
when billions of taxpayer’s dollars are being
spent. This is especially the case with an issue
as important as our transportation infrastructure.
The
Governor and other tax proponents are asking you
to increase VDOT funding by nearly 25 percent.
They want the money to come out of your pocket,
not out of current state budget surpluses or the
current $72 billion budget. Gov. Kaine and his
friends feel that raising taxes is the tough
decision on the table, not fixing the broken
system or making decisions on how to best spend
money in the bloated state budget.
Finally,
VDOT’s 2005 performance record was far from
stellar. VDOT releases show that the department
was over time in one out of every four projects
and over budget for one out of every five
projects. There is a great deal of improvement
necessary in the general performance of VDOT
before the state should invest significant amounts
of money in the system.
Gov.
Kaine is offering your family a wonderful
opportunity though. For only $600 a year you have
the opportunity to invest your hard earned money
in the future of Virginia. His plan is to
drastically increase funding into an organization
currently lacking permanent leadership,
legislative (investor) oversight or sufficient
performance in the marketplace.
The
average Virginian knows the current system is
ineffective at transportation planning and
management, and yet some argue the only solution
is to give that broken system more of our tax
dollars to spend. But it gets even better – Gov.
Kaine cannot even guarantee that your money will
actually be spent on transportation. Even the
“Average Joe” knows that throwing good money
after bad won’t fix anything.
--
March 20, 2006
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