From what I have read, it sounds like a tax increase of 10 cents will go a long way in solving the transportation issue. The way gas taxes jump all over the place just what the heck is 10 more cents? And it certainly does not end up as direct profits for the oil companies.

Whoa, maybe that is the problem. A tax increase puts nothing in the pockets of Delagates, but oil company profits go a long way to getting reelected.

Generally speaking, excise taxes like a gasoline tax are regressive.  Each little regressive tax may not be much on its own, but add them up and they take bite out of middle and lower income families.  It is essentially death by a thousand cuts.  So, if you want to help middle and lower income Virginians, you shouldn't nickel and dime them via an excise tax increase.

Second, transportation benefits everyone regardless of use.  This is because transportation promotes and sustains commerce, the lifeblood of our economy.  User fees and pay-to-play schemes are, therefore, not fair because the majority of working families shoulder the burden of paying for transportation, while a minority of individuals, who benefit greatly from the fruits of commerce, reap a disproportionate amount of the benefit.

Instead of raising the gasoline excise tax, why not add progressivity to the state income tax?  First and foremost, higher income households are in a better position to pay additional taxes.  And second, those who gain the most from good transportation (for example, their workers getting there on time) pay their fair share for that benefit.

Raising the income tax is not a very good ideal. Gasoline Tax is the most fair. A gas tax will put some burdon on the people who travel through the state.

I read where 40 percent of the traffic is out of state people using the roads in VA. Why can't they pay threir share to repair and build better roads? An income tax only gets VA residents, where as a gas tax gets most people who have to fill up in this state.

Raising taxes on gas also increases the incentive to buy fuel efficient vehicles.  However, it would hit the poorest Virginians the hardest (and generally, fuel efficient vehicles are more expensive).  So its a trade off.

The income tax idea is certainly not a bad one, but it also has drawbacks, the big one being that it is not easily tied directly to road usage.  Which opens a big can of worms such as revision based on how well the economy is doing at any given time and it allows Republicans to slash other budgets which are funded by the same source.

I believe the vast majority of Virginians who would be subject to this tax increase (which is fairly minor in the big picture) aren't at the very limit of their own budgets and can therefore afford to pay.  Plus, most people do have some element of control over their driving habits and could make up the difference with some effort to change commuting habits. 

I don't have a lot of sympathy for people who simply don't want to change their comfortable habits AND don't want to pay an extra few bucks to solve the problem.

I'm not proposing that we just leave the poorest behind - that's where the income tax and other state support programs come in.  Instead of increasing the income tax on everyone, the lower income people who really have no way out could be given additional tax breaks to make up for the extra dollars they'd pay for the gasoline tax.

Do you not agree that roads benefit everyone regardless of use?  If you do, then why allow people who don't use them to receive a benefit free of charge?  Road usage in my mind is irrelevant because people benefit from them regardless of use.  You cannot have a functional major metropolitan area without roads.

Equally, inner loop home prices in the Washington, D.C. area are cost prohibitive for moderate and low income families (on the VA side anyway).  Rising rents are also leading to an exodus of lower income residents from Arlington County and Alexandria.  Living next to a Metro stop is not affordable either.  And even with affordable housing programs, there is not enough to accommodate everyone.

Also, the vast majority of Virginians don't make a ton of money.  50.63% of Virginia Income Tax filers had an AGI of less than $30k.  68.19% had AGI's of less than $50k.  Virginia has an overall regressive tax structure, and a gas tax increase would make it worse. 

If you're mad at people who build McMansions in Leesburg and clog route 7, well let's have a luxury home property tax surcharge.

Finally, I don't understand what behavior modification you are suggesting for Northern Virginians.  I'm not under the impression that NoVa has this fabulous mass transit system that offers a true alternative to driving.  Am I missing something?  And if we all want to go to some scenic destination in Virginia, how do we get there without driving? 

a relatively minor increase in the gasoline tax.  You make it sound as if everyone in Virginia is going to the poor house if they have to pay an extra few cents per gallon. 

[Tangent: if I was talking about a large gasoline tax increase it would be for environmental reasons - with the specific intent of getting people out of cars no matter what.  That's a different problem for a different day.]

For now it's a small tax increase.  There are almost endless ways for a family, even a middle or lower income family, to make up the small difference over a year - and I'm not talking about sending the kids to bed hungry (if that's the case then they need financial help than this small gasoline tax would do). 

Is that an imposition?  Sure it is.  But do you have some sort of expectation that the problem should be solved without asking those who contribute to the problem to pay a little something to help alleviate it? 

Look, I'm not saying a gasoline tax increase is the greatest solution in the world.  But it's as close to a simple and fair solution as were going to get.  Perhaps some insanely complex technological system of tracking driver miles, normalizing against a personal wealth index, and then sending tax bills accordingly would be more fair, but that just isn't going to happen.

Virginia needs money to address the problem and I feel very strongly that those who use the roads, regardless of their personal situation, should be the ones who pay. 

And as I said before, for families that are really in need, Virginia should step up and provide relief - but that's a completely different topic.

Out of state drivers do pay their fair share via the Federal Income Tax as well as the federal excise tax on gasoline (which comes back to VA via highway appropriations).  And when they violate state traffic laws, well that is an added bonus!

Besides we don't want to punish out-of-state people for coming to our lovely state (they have to endure tax burdens in their home states especially so if they live in high tax states just North of our fair border).  We should embrace them with open arms and the commerce that they bring!

Half a cent on the sales tax would catch money from the drive-through non-Virginians, is so little that it would not even be noticed by the average citizen, and, if there are concerns about low-income folks suffering, give them a rebate on their income tax--- and you'd still have a reliable, large sum stream of revenue. Gasoline tax is not so reliable as cars become more fuel-efficient, not to mention that it hits those low-income workers who have to drive long distances to their jobs (i.e., Culpeper to Rosslyn or Washington). There is always someone who suffers from every tax, but a half-cent on sales tax is about as close as you can get to no harm taxation. Figure it out and see for yourself... moreover, high cost areas would be paying more since they have higher base prices overall, but aren't they the very areas with the biggest transportation needs?