Including the extra cost of the Prius in your woe is me argument is a fallacy. You pay $4000 more for a Prius because you WANT to. You pay $64 per year because you HAVE to.
This is not a "wack a dem" tax. The majority of state funded highway projects occur in northern va and the Hampton roads, therefore that is where the funding should come from. Drive through nova and then drive through emporia or south hill or take 460 from Petersburg south and see where the population and income density is. If the residents of nova want fancy roads then they should pay for it, not try and shift the source of funding 150 miles away for their delusions of grandeur. VA state sales tax is 4%. Anything above that is levied and collected by the locality, so if you pay more then it's your own fault for living in a locality that levies more than an additional 1%.
Wow. Ok, point taken ;-) That is a bunch of money. Yep, I paid about $1400 once to tag the car. Had no idea Va taxed hybrids so much. I thought Va was more hybrid friendly, that there were so many 'tax breaks' and incentives? So I then thought, $64 is nothing but after what you're saying, I think if I ever moved back to Va I'd sell the hybrid beforehand.
Senator Rabon should look around at the droves of fuel efficent (ICE) cars now on the market from every manufacturer that rival the most fuel efficent HyBrids, on paper at least. Then he can pull his foot out of his mouth on the "free ride" that HyBrid drivers are getting. EVs can pay a bit. What kind of vehicle does the Senator drive? This dude is a Republican, who is his talking head? Republicans don't like to think for themselves, it hampers their freedom. Ditto! Ditto!
This is simply false. Last I recall more than 60% of the Federal gas tax was directly for road/construction and the remainder was for earmarked work. Revenues from other taxes are also used to fund transportation as the fuel tax does not cover it. A quick check shows that, Kansas (which your profile lists as current home) received 472Million in federal funds for DOT, and raised $427M through its own fuel taxes. (see http://www.ksdot.org/pdf_files/QuickFacts2010.pdf). The fuel tax funds in KS are split 66.3% to state roads and 33.7% for city/county. In my state of CO, state highway maintenance and construction funds come from three main forms: The gasoline tax, (about 60%), vehicle registration fees, and supplemental funds from the general state sales tax. The money is pumped is distributed as follows: 65% goes to the state highway system. 26% is distributed among Colorado's counties based on a formula incorporating the lane miles and vehicle registrations in them. 9% is distributed among cities, based on a city's street mileage and vehicle registrations. But like most states they use more than gas tax because they have refused to raise fuel taxes since 1991. Overall 1/3 of state/local road work is funded by fuel taxes. Here is a table for every state Gasoline Taxes and Tolls Pay for Only a Third of State & Local Road Spending | Tax Foundation
Or just move to another one of the much more beautiful parts of the state and avoid all the traffic and taxes of northern virginia.
Which misses the point that the gas taxes do not and never have been the sole or even primary source of funds to pay for roads. The issue is not how much of gasoline taxes go to roads it is how much of road costs do gasoline taxes pay for. The stats you cite above note that only 60% of gasoline taxes even goes to roads not even getting into the fact that even if 100% of gasoline taxes went to roads it would not cover the costs. Gasoline taxes need to be in the $20 per gallon range to pay for current costs of oil use ($300B trade deficit, $500B military deficit, $500B pollution cost, $14T national debt from last 22 years of unfunded oil wars) before we get into roads and bridges. Roads and bridges benefit all and should be paid by general fund from income taxes. Reason for gas tax is to reduce usage which is costing us a lot.
Exactly. Alls I am trying to say, the next time I buy a car, it may not be a hybrid in VA because I may choose NOT to pay +$4000 for the car + $640 cumulative Hybrid fees + $1400 more annual property tax (vs. non hybrid). The hybrid math does not work in north VA anymore (for new car purchase) unless you put a lot of miles on. Chris- What might work mathematically in VA is a used Prius or Plug-In. Your excess property taxes for a hybrid will be loaded in the first 3-4 years when your car value is highest.
What are your sources for the statement the are not the primary source of funds to pay for roads. They definitely are in Kansas.. and in Co. The numbers I showed for Colorado had all of that funding going into roads.. with 65% state highways but also some for local/city roads. I dug up the 60% I mentioned, and that was from a 2007 story where the secretary said Federal gas go to general highways, the remainder goes into earmark in the "highway" bills. If ongrescritters redirect some of this only to fillin it in with some of that does not mean the fuel tax does not pay for roads. With earmarks reduced/removed things should be bette. The current split is 84% for roads, and 16% for Mass Transit projects, see AASHTO Center for Excellence in Project Finance—Transportation Funding & Financing—Federal Funding It is true the current tax does not cover enough for state/local roads, which is part of the reason states are looking for ways to increase the income for roads, and want to do it without looking like they are raising taxes on everyone. It is also true the Highway trust fund may become insolvent, paying out more thatn it takes in. What is your source for the reason for gas tax.. That is not why it was introduced in 1956, and I don't think any reauthorization suggested it was designed to reduce usage.. That might be your fantasy but its not consistent with reality. I do agree our gas tax should be much higher and/or we should stop subsidizing the oil industry. That is a separate issue from where the gas tax goes and
Shoot, I'm glad Georgia just made lifetime tax at time of purchase on new vehicles. I paid my taxes once and now I pay $20/year for the entire time I own the car.
Ha ha ha ha ha, I've never heard such nonsense. I have no idea where VA is, but it's quite clearly run by f***wits. What a poor reflection on the good folk of VA?!?!
Just saying that people who register there cars in other states use and abuse VA roads and pay no tax. However VA decides to punish the Hybrid owner. All cars have improved gas mileage. If VA raised the gas tax and left the registration tax alone it would capture money from out of state drivers. Now on the fence hybrid buyers are scratching there head on dealer lots saying the Hybrid car is more than the ICE car and I pay more registration taxes, I'll buy the polluting car. VA just created another problem
and if the US went to a flat tax system, we could get rid of the IRS (saving money and corruption) and collect taxes on illegals and people who refuse to pay taxes. They would be forced to pay taxes whenever they bought anything. But good luck with either case actually happening.
Gov should use taxes to influence purchase decisions. Lower taxes on a Hybrid is more non polluting vehicles on road which is better for everyone
