New figures show state transportation money is running short. Gasoline-tax collections are behind the pace for collections last year, thanks to better fuel efficiency. What's more, while inflation remains low, it continues to erode the value of what collections do occur.
This has been the case ever since Virginia adopted its gasoline tax in 1986. Since then, the purchasing power of the state's gasoline tax has dropped by half while the cost of road building and construction has gone up. Higher consumption has offset that trend somewhat as Virginians drive more. But the increase in driving has far outstripped the increase in lane miles constructed. The roads are getting more congested; it's not just your imagination.
The Northern Virginia Transportation Alliance also calls attention to this fact: VDOT's revenue for fiscal 2012 is actually 12 percent lower than its revenue for fiscal 2007. Doubling the state's 17.5-cents-per-gallon gasoline tax — something nobody is contemplating — would simply return consumers' real out-of-pocket cost to where it was in 1986.
Rabid big-government liberals often claim higher spending will save money in the long run. In the case of gasoline taxes, that might actually be true for once — at least insofar as consumers' wallets are concerned. Poor road conditions inflict $343 worth of annual repair costs on the average motorist in Central Virginia. For a typical driver, that comes to an implicit tax of 85 cents a gallon. Paying at the pump — and getting less congestion in return — seems like a less aggravating way to go.
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