McDonnell said he would not sign a bill to increase taxes to pay for road improvements
Andrew Cain
Aug 04, 2009
Tyler Whitley reports:
Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell said today he would not sign a bill that would seek to increase taxes to pay for road improvements.
In an online chat with the Richmond Times-Dispatch, McDonnell said now, in a bad economy, is not the time to raise taxes. He said he did not expect such a proposal to reach his desk, if he is elected governor.
He also said his Democratic opponent Creigh Deeds’ refusal to say what he would do about transportation was a “subterfuge” for a tax increase proposal. Deeds has said he will convene a special session of the General Assembly to talk about transportation and would leave all options on the table.
McDonnell’s proposals for transportation funding include shifting revenues, privatizing ABC stores, using revenue from offshore drilling and imposing tolls on Interstates 85 and 95 for travelers entering Virginia from North Carolina.
Democratic candidate Creigh Deeds will take part in his own 30-minute online chat at the Times-Dispatch at 12:45 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 12.
Every time a Republican comes out with the idea of adding tolls, Virginia’s voters punish them at the polls.
Rightly so.
This is especially true when the sort of arrangement that McDonnell is advocating would sell Virginia roads to Communist Chinese owned toll road operating companies.
Mr. Deeds favors the fuel tax increase to pay for our road improvements and so do most citizens, once they learn that such an increase of about five cents per gallon, will only cost the typical driver an additional twenty bucks per year.
Aug. 5, 2009 at 10:41 AM
Return to the Virginia Politics blog »
Post a comment