An easy sell

By Published by The Editorial Board

Published: May 15, 2008

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine this week announced a new fix for transportation, called a special General Assembly session and launched a series of town hall meetings around the state to sell Virginians on his plan.
The conventional political wisdom is Kaine’s transportation plan is as dead as a opossum trying to cross U.S. 58 because of the anti-tax Republicans that control the House of Delegates.
House Republicans are going to fight any plan that would raise any taxes or fees, so if the issue is just about taxes and fees, Kaine’s plan will probably fail.
But if it’s about roads, it has a good chance to succeed.
The governor has to fight smart between now and June 23, when the special transportation session begins. He has to explain what it will cost people if Virginia continues to spend less money on new road and bridge construction.
Kaine’s transportation plan would increase the cost of buying a new car (the titling tax will increase from 3 percent to 4 percent), increase the cost of registering a car every year (by $10) and add to the cost of selling a new house (a 25-cent per $100 of assessed value increase in the grantor’s tax).
In Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads, the state sales tax would be increased 1 percent (except on food and drug purchases) to pay for projects in those regions.
Kaine has been in politics long enough to know that if he asks people if they want to pay more to sell their house, more to buy a new car and more to register it every year, they’ll say no. Ditto for paying higher sales taxes halfway across the state.
To win this argument, Kaine is going to have to tell people what projects won’t be built if this problem isn’t fixed. As luck would have it, Kaine will be able to make his argument here in Danville on June 7, when he’ll be at the Institute for Advanced Learning & Research for one of his transportation town hall meetings.
In our community, the Robertson Bridge replacement is at the top of the wish list. If Kaine’s program isn’t funded, does that mean construction on the new Robertson Bridge won’t start in 2010 as scheduled? If Kaine’s plan doesn’t pass, how much longer will residents of North Danville, Blairs and Mount Hermon have to wait for the Franklin Turnpike connector project to be built?
Every community in Virginia has high-profile road and bridge construction projects that depend on the General Assembly fixing the transportation crisis. If the governor wants his transportation plan to pass, he’s going to have to tell Virginians what local road projects will be postponed or even cancelled if it fails.