Tim Kaine: RAISE THE GAS TAX!

If any Republican in the General Assembly votes to raise the gas tax, they should be primaried and targeted for defeat.  Gov. Tim Kaine told WTOP today that he wants to raise the gas tax.  I understand that its "fair" because in-state and out-of-state drivers will equally carry the burden.  But lets face it, those who will be hurt the most are you and me and every other resident of Virginia who already fork over $3.65 a gallon for regular. 

And you want to see the arrogance of Dick Saslaw again?  Check out THIS quote:

"When it's already at $3.50 a gallon, it's not like you are going to notice an extra 3 cents,"

Are you kidding me?  Its a fundemental lack of respect of the voting electorate, and a further lack of respect of our tax dollars - as if they are something to just play around with.  And didn't Tim Kaine campaign on NOT raising taxes until there was a transportation lock box?  Mark Warner raised taxes in 2004 on the promise that he would fix Virginia, yet here we are just four short years later worse off then we were then.  Clearly, raising taxes didn't work then, why should it now? 

But its not like we didn't ask for this.  If this does happen, its our own fault.  Well, not mine, but everyone who voted for a Democrat senator last fall.  I know my new senator campaigned on raising the gas tax.  But in the face of raising fuel costs, rising food costs, and just about the price of everything middle-class America needs - are Kaine and the Democrats dumb enough to force people to spend even MORE without any sort of mechanism to gaurentee that the money will be spent on Transprotation?  The Governor himself even tried to take money out of the Transportation pool earlier this year.  When will Northern Virginia have enough of Democrats in Richmond and in the Governor's Mansion making promises they know they won't keep?  And, yes Virginia, there is an alternative plan.

Meanwhile, gas goes up and up and up and Tim Kaine wants it to go even higher.  And so does  Senator >insert name here<

Comments

$3.65 a gallon? I drive a diesel...get great mileage, have the oil changed every 2500 miles because I drive less than 5,000
miles a year and just drive around town...
I am paying $4.49 per gallon. I can't remember $3.65 per gallon.
As for those from out of state paying..maybe but want to bet all those snow birds from NY and NJ on their merry way to Fla. will hit the VA border with a full tank of gas?
Northern VA has many write-off cars on the road. Those fill-ups go on the company/business credit card and are deductible. I remember it well.
An increase in the gas tax will truly hurt only the little guy.
I have long been in favor of an increase in the sales tax...no tax on food or meds, a school shopping tax free week-end each year and the rest go for it. The ladies who lunch and then shop until they drop are not going to notice.

My driving habits are a lot like yours, so the idea of a gas tax is kind of ho hum to me, personally. I walk to and then take Metro rail. My employer pays for my Metro rides. I know I am lucky to have that deal. Most people do not get that. I don't want to brush off their legitimate concerns. Most people pay their own way to and from work. Also, I don't think a gas tax is ho hum to people who absolutely need their cars to commute or who need their cars for their small businesses. An increase in gas prices hits them hard. Gas prices (and diesel prices) have been going up and so have the prices of many necessities. I don't think more taxes are a good answer at this point in economic history. More carefully choosing and prioritizing transportation projects, competitively bidding transportation projects to get the best deal (are you listening, Gov, re: Dulles Rail?), and providing incentives (tax breaks and such, because the carrot works better than the stick) to develop domestic non-ethanol renewable fuels in Virginia would be a nice start.