Fair and equitable distribution of money?
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Joe Angsten
Published: July 13, 2008
Why should Northern Virginia counties get $150 million transportation dollars to Hampton Roads $300 million dollars? How does our state determine what the fair and equitable distribution of
transportation dollars is?
Well, I thought one way would be to compare the amount of gas tax receipts from all the counties. I tried to find those figures but it appears our local and state officials do not have any idea as to what
Prince William County or Northern Virginia collects.
Would a 75 percent return of the collected taxes be too much or too little? If that data collection is hard, consider using the number of registered county private, business and government vehicles as a
means of determining a fair return of transportation money? Add to that formula, the existing miles of roads times a per-mile average maintenance cost. The county-to-county or Northern Virginia to
Hampton Roads comparison of that information might be quite an eye-opener.
JOE ANGSTEN
Manassas
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Reader Reactions
Posted by ( willow703 ) on July 13, 2008 at 8:49 am
Why not try to determine who is buying fuel & where? Who is paying the bulk of fuel taxes in various locations, I submit that most of the fuel sold in Northern Virginia & Hampton Roads is sold to outsiders & most of the fuel sold in rural areas is sold to residents & businesses of those areas.
Large general merchants have no problem asking for zip codes, why should large fuel distributors? Take the codes in Northern Virginia, Hampton Roads & a half-mile strip on either side of I95 & I64.
Let us also get real about the gas tax. At 18 cents per gallon, it is in the bottom 10 percent of all states. It hasn’t been increased in more than 20 years, so in reality it is less now than it was when it began. An increase of 1 cent would cost the average driver less than 4 cents a day.
An increase could be made more palatable by an income tax credit or deduction for individuals & businesses. In effect, a revolving loan.
Citizens must also let their representatives know what is thought of their performance & offer suggestions; civil, of course. I am engaging in another e-mail discourse with Dave Albo on this subject.
The longer we wait, the more difficult & expensive it will be to do anything about this problem.
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