Albo Kicks and Misses Wide Right

In today's Washington Post, Delegate Dave Albo posits the notion that the Republicans have just "delivered" a big transportation investment. (A nice summary of the plan can be found on Vivian Paige's blog by clicking here.) What a joke.

Joke #1 - This is a General Fund Raid
Delegate Dave Albo should be boasting that this is the biggest General Fund raid in history. The most of the General Assembly's "funding" is (a) "capitalizing" "surpluses" (turning it into bonded debt) and (b) taking existing revenues and dumping them into the Transportation Trust Fund.

What's wrong with this? Three problems.
Joke #1A - Surpluses never last (ask Jim Gilmore).

Joke #1B Transportation dollars can never compete with General Fund dollars.
When recessions hit, the first thing legislators cut is transportation projects (they are discretionary and employees have to be paid) and the second thing they cut is colleges (and get parents to pay more tuition). This is no solution - it is kicking the can down the road and moving the deck chairs on the Titanic. Moreover, Albo Must Go views this as nothing more than a back door repeal and/or rewiring of the widely-lauded investments into schools, health care, and public safety that Gov. Mark Warner pressed through in 2004 that Delegate Dave Albo railed and voted against. Now the Republicans have their revenge.

Joke #1C - This is a Tax on Children
A large part of the up front funding for transportation costs in this plan is the use of bond debt. Let's make this clear - BOND FINANCING FOR ROAD PROJECTS IS NOTHING EXCEPT A TAX ON CHILDREN. Republicans use debt to pay for everything because you don't have to pay now. This is another example of this generation refusing to pay for the problems they have made themselves and instead pushing off their obligations on Virginia's children. The way Del. Dave Albo structures government, you'd think he'd ask his infant son to sign the promissory note on the next new car he finances. What is it with this generation of "leaders"?

Joke #2 - A Shrinking drop in the bucket
In 2000, Governor Warner pressed the General Assembly to adopt legislation requiring VDOT to engage in long-term planning. The product was VTRANS 2025. The final product of which concluded that Virginia had $108.4 BILLION (yes, billion) of unfunded transportation needs over the next two decades.

This plan shifts around money to put something like $1.5 billion per year into the Transportation Trust Fund (again, much of it simply reallocating existing revenues). That's about $3.5 BILLION per year short and when the recession hits, it'll be a lot more short than that (but that will be another legislature's problem, right!).

Joke #3 - The Northern Virginia Component Is Not Paid by YOU
Delegate Dave Albo's widely touted Northern Virginia only funding is a shell game. The primary funding mechanism authorizes several local option taxes (a commercial property tax, a hotel tax, $100 "initial" driver license fees, and a fee you pay when you sell your house).

Joke #3A - Shifting the Blame
The Prince William County and Loudoun County Boards of Supervisors have already said they will note vote for these taxes. Fairfax County Board Chairman Gerry Connolly has already come out against these taxes. Why?

Point A - Roads are the State's responsibility - not local government
(It's only been that way since about 1920 when Gov. Harry F. Byrd took over the roads from struggling local governmentts);

Point B - Prince William and Fairfax County taxpayers have already made substantial invesments in roads via bonds for the Fairfax County Parkway, the Prince William County Parkway and other projects; and

Point C - Northern Virginians also pay over 40% of the Commonwealth of Virginia budget even though we make up only 25% of the state's population.

Joke 3B - These taxes and "fees" will not be paid by tax payers
Six months ago, Delegate Dave Albo wrote an interesting posting on the blog Too Conservative, bragging about how his plan was being funded by anyone except taxpayers so it didn't violate his six years of anti-tax pledges to Jack Abramoff's pal, Grover Norquist. We have some questions for Delegate Dave Albo:

Question #1 - Who will commercial property owners pass the tax increases on to? Surely all of these wealthy businesses, apartments, etc. are just going to take less profit out of their pockets and not pass it along to their tenants, right? (yeah right) YOU will pay for these tax increases with every purchase, rent payment, or service you purchase from anyone renting or owning commerical property in Northern Virginia whether you choose to walk, bicycle, or sit on your butt all day.  They should have just called this a value added tax.

Question #2 - Why not raise gas taxes or charge sales taxes on gas?
Answer - numerous studies show that over 30% of all gas taxes are paid by non-Virginians. If we have the chance, why not get other people, the ones who use our roads, to pay for them? That would be the best Delegate Dave Albo could do to protect our taxpayers.Delegate Dave Albo could do to protect our taxpayers.

Point #1 - Gas taxes are use taxes designed to measure your use of public transportation facilities, discourage excessive consuption of scarce resources, and have been Virginia's traditional source of road monies.
Point #2 - Virginia's gas taxes are levied as pennies per gallon instead of a percentage. Because of this, revenues have not kept up with inflationary
pressures on road maintenance expenses.
Point #3 - As cars become more efficent, people pay less gas taxes per mile than they ever have. Former Republican Sen. Kevin Miller from Harrisonburg used to introduce a gas tax bill every year and would produce his calculations showing how many pennies he was paying per mile in 1975 as compared with today.

The primary objective of this plan was to give Delegate Dave Albo and several endangered Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads Senators some election year cover - THAT'S IT. This "plan" is also carefully crafted in a means for Delegate Dave Albo, Sen. Cuccinelli, and others to be able to claim that they are still abiding by their pledge to Grover Norquist that they "will oppose any and all tax increases."

Delegate Dave Albo knew going in that none of the local funding will be approved by the local Boards of Supervisors - so now he can claim he did something and shift the blame to Gerry Connolly, et al. in an election year.

THIS PLAN IS COMPLETE ABDICATION OF LEADERSHIP, A JOKE, A GILMORESQUE REPUBLICAN SHELL GAME. VOTERS SHOULD BE OUTRAGED AND GOVERNOR KAINE SHOULD VETO IT BACK TO THE IDEOLOGICAL TRASH BIN FROM WHENCE IT WAS SPAWN.

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