Former VDOT Commissioner Ray Pethtel floats an idea for funding regional transportation authorities through a 2 percent retail sales tax on gasoline.
The General Assembly would need to create a statewide transportation district with optional or mandatory participation for localities. The statewide district would be governed by local elected officials. Each local government would be required to vote to become a member, satisfying the constitutional requirement.
The new statewide district would have authority to impose a 2 percent tax, again under existing law. In order to gain voluntary participation, legislation should allocate the funds to the regional entities of Northern Virginia, Richmond and Hampton Roads according to the amount collected in those areas. The district then could allocate the remaining funds through the statewide formulas to those jurisdictions that participate.
Since the tax is based on a percentage of the retail sales price of gas, the revenue would be sensitive to inflation. And there is an existing mechanism to collect retail taxes — so administration would not be costly.
Read the full proposal in the Roanoke Times.