Sen. Emmett Hanger, R-Augusta, has proffered a partial solution for Virginia’s transportation-funding woes: Index the gasoline tax to the average fuel economy of vehicles on state roads.
According to an editorial in the Staunton News Leader, Hanger has joined the growing number of legislators to worry about the impact of improving gasoline mileage on the primary source of funding for state road maintenance and construction. With the introduction of a slew of new technologies, miles per gallon could well double or triple, and better mileage will translate into commensurately less gasoline consumed and fewer taxes paid at the pump.
Hanger’s idea provides a rationale for increasing the gasoline tax that tax-phobic citizens just might buy. Annual adjustments, which probably would amount to less than one penny per gallon annually, would help extend the life of the gasoline tax as a funding source. Hanger deserves credit for acknowledging the problem and for trying to think outside the box.
But the idea still has flaws. First, the incremental added revenue won’t come close to meeting the needs of Virginia’s Business As Usual transportation policy. Perpetuating our one-man-one-car society requires billions of dollars now, far more than could possibly be milked from this tax. Second, by taxing gasoline consumption, the plan would tax those who burn gasoline, not those who crowd the roads. Such a tax would only accelerate the shift to non-gasoline fuels, most notably electricity.
The biggest problem is that we need to think beyond perpetuating the transportation status quo and think seriously about creating a 21st century transportation system. Funding that system is one critical piece of the puzzle, but only one. Without Fundamental Change in planning land use and transportation policies, Virginia will simply stumble from crisis to crisis — no matter how much it raises in taxes. Hanger’s plan can’t paper over that reality.
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