Debate over transportation tax opens old wounds in legislature

WASHINGTON (Map, News) - Any proposal to raise taxes Virginiawide to pay for transportation projects as part of an upcoming General Assembly session designed to address regional road and rail funding threatens to magnify the divide between Northern Virginia and the rest of the state.

Democratic leaders say lawmakers must think statewide, not regionally, in their effort to replace $300 million in annual taxes ruled unconstitutional because the state is staring at more than a $1 billion deficit in other transportation needs.

But Republicans say that is a ploy to force an unnecessary tax increase that provokes the decades-long argument over how Virginia divvies up its transportation dollars.

Northern Virginia Republicans won’t support a gas tax that would send a percentage of local tax dollars to other regions, while Republicans from other parts of the state risk losing funds that could help their economies.

“It is the continuing problem of the two Virginias,” said Stephen Farnsworth, a political science professor at the University of Mary Washington.

“People in Northern Virginia are tired of paying a time tax to get around,” he said, while in other parts of the state, “a lot of Main Streets have seen better days. When people in those communities look at the resources Northern Virginia enjoys, they are not sympathetic to sending more state resources north of the Occoquan River.”

Gov. Tim Kaine has said he will call a special session of the General Assembly when an agreement is near, but leading lawmakers say they will not compromise on their diametrically opposed positions.

“The Republican delegates better get used to the fact they ain’t going to get a regional package,” Senate Majority Leader Richard Saslaw, D-Fairfax, said, adding the state must address its statewide transportation deficit.

But Republicans argue a regional solution can work.

“What we need to do is figure out how we can implement the fees that were structured last year instead of having a statewide transportation crisis created out of thin air,” said House Majority Leader Morgan Griffith, R-Salem.

Some Northern Virginia leaders say that the sharpness of the divide could prevent a significant resolution to the problem until after redistricting increases the clout of Northern Virginia in 2010.

“I would doubt that the General Assembly will be able to come to a consensus,” said Prince William County Supervisor Wally Covington, R-Brentsville. “There’s just too many competing interests.”

dgenz@dcexaminer.com

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