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Wednesday, January 09, 2013

Virginia Eyes Killing Gas Tax, Raising Sales Tax To Pay For Roads

RICHMOND, Va. -- Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell on Tuesday proposed eliminating the state gas tax drivers pay at the pump and raising the state sales tax to help raise $3.1 billion for desperately needed road work by 2018.

McDonnell's proposal would axe the 17.5 cent-per-gallon tax on gasoline, making Virginia the first state to do so. He proposed raising the statewide sales tax from 5 percent to 5.8 percent and to use the additional revenue for road maintenance and to pump up the transportation trust fund.

"If this was easy it would have been done 26 years ago," McDonnell said. "The time for action is now."

McDonnell's transportation plan would also gradually shift 0.25 percent of existing sales tax revenues to pay for road maintenance, with the first $300 million earmarked for Northern Virginia to help pay for Metro's Silver Line to Washington Dulles International Airport.

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

OMalley will not be happy about this. Virginia will have a lower price on gas and sales tax.

Anonymous said...

The devil is always in the details but atleast the gov. is proposing solutions. I have to fill up for my commute 2x a week. This proposal would save me $5 a week on gas while raising my grocery bill by $0.64. Seems the impact on the consumer would be somewhat positive or negligible. The real issue is what the impact would be on state coffers; if the plan doesn't raise revenue you can guarantee they'll be looking to make up the difference with new state taxes and fees.