The Democrats in the General Assembly appear to be divided into two main camps over how to finance transportation improvements — and that doesn’t even include Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, who appears to be in a camp of his own. On one side is Sen. Richard Saslaw, D-Fairfax, who wants to increase the state’s 17.5-cent gas tax, and on the other is Del. Ward Armstrong, D-Henry, who says raising gas taxes is a bad idea when the public is already struggling to fill up their tanks.
Saslaw makes an undeniably valid point: A gas tax would capture significant revenue from out-of-state motorists driving through the state. Most of the alternative financing proposals would derive little or no revenue from out-of-staters. The polls may say Virginians don’t want an increase in the gas tax, but Saslaw’s attitude is, more or less, polls be damned. “I don’t run the state on polls,” the Washington Post quotes him as saying, “and if [Del.] Brian [Moran, D-Alexandria] and Ward want to run the state on the polls, that is their problem.”
As Tim Craig with the Post observes, the rift among Democrats gives Republicans political cover in coming out against any effort to raise taxes this year. House Majority Leader Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, questioned why Kaine called a special session for next month before locking up support from Democrats for his plan.
Bacon’s bottom line: If you’ve got to raise gas taxes to continue financing a Business As Usual transportation system, gas taxes are the economically rational way to go. They are easy to administer and they raise a lot of money. Most important of all (even though this is never a justification that Saslaw is quoted as using), it is transparent. It confronts automobile drivers with the economic reality of their transportation choices. Raising the gas tax may encourage some motorists on the economic margin to drive less, thus reducing the strain on the transportation system. Collecting revenue from out-of-state motorists is a bonus.
Ward, Moran and various Republicans who want to insulate drivers from economic reality aren’t doing them any real favors. Energy prices may plateau or even dip slightly after their incredible run-up the past years, but the long-term prognosis is grim. Perpetuating the habits and lifestyles of the cheap-energy era simply is unsustainable in the long run — we’ll bankrupt ourselves by trying to do it. All citizens need to start adjusting to the new energy era now. There is no way to avoid the pain. The only question is how long we can prolong the inevitable reckoning, and how much it hurts when the economic judgment day finally arrives.
Of course, as gasoline prices rise, Virginians will drive more hybrids, electric cars and, as new technologies become available, shift to other fuels. The gasoline tax is living on borrowed time. If Saslaw is serious about relying upon the gasoline tax, and not just posturing, he needs to start laying the groundwork for a Vehicle Miles Driven tax to supplant it one day.