In 2013 Speaker Bill Howell and Governor Bob McDonnell forced through the General Assembly the biggest tax hike in the history of the Commonwealth, a whopping $1.13 BILLION in tax increases. [read_more]Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads saw their sales tax go up by 20%. Across the Commonwealth it now costs more to sell your house, and gas taxes were increased across the state. While only 23 cents of every dollar of gas tax goes to roads. (I constantly wonder, just what DOES Richmond do with our money because it sure isn’t spent on roads and it can’t all be spent on the Metro for less than 1% of the population to ride. Can it?)
We were told the transportation tax bill would help to solve our transportation problems, particularly in Northern Virginia. Has anyone noticed a decrease in the traffic in Northern Virginia? Anywhere in Virginia? Commuting times in NOVA are longer than ever and we still can’t travel to Richmond on weekends due to traffic on I-95. Politicians LOVE the Metro and couldn’t wait to expand the Silver Line to Dulles. The Silver Line to Dulles is now open and traffic on route 7 and the Dulles Toll Road is worse than ever. Metro is a sinkhole for our tax money and offers no relief from traffic congestion.
Now we learn that traffic is worse than ever on I-66 and going to get worse. From the Washington Post,
A new study released by the Virginia government on Tuesday paints a bleak future for commuters on I-66…
These days, congestion bad enough to annoy most drivers extends well beyond the normal definition of rush hour, as drivers recalculate their departure times to avoid the worst of it.
So what is happening to all that money that Virginia is taking in from our large tax increases since it doesn’t seem to be applied to roads? While a large chunk is going to fund the subway in Fairfax and Loudoun but where is the rest of it going?
Revenues in Virginia continue to rise, more than 10% in April 2015 over the same month last year. Our tax money continues to pile up on Richmond. There is no chance that Speaker Howell and the Governor will return our money to us, or use it to expand roads like I-95 or I-66. So what will they find to spend this windfall on? My money, and your’s, is most likely to be spent on Medicaid expansion, McAuliffe’s promise to Virginia during his election. Look for it happen after July 1st when Howell and McAuliffe pretend to be shocked, shocked I tell you, at all this ‘extra money’ in Richmond. By law McAuliffe cannot spend the money on Medicaid Expansion prior to July 1st. However there is nothing to stop him after that date because the General Assembly didn’t put restrictions on spending for medicaid expansion after July 1st, 2015. So watch for the phony surprise coming from Richmond when the Governor and Speaker Howell find this ‘unexpected’ windfall and celebrate the expansion of Medicaid in Virginia.
Meanwhile, you continue to sit in traffic. Read the Washington Post article to see just how bad it is on I-66 and remember it when Speaker Howell and Governor McAuliffe use your tax dollars to expand Medicaid and not on roads to help your commute.
17 comments
[…] Since it’s the weekend with little happening politically (always subject to rapid changes) I found this amusing list of things to avoid doing and saying in Virginia. The first thing to avoid is any road ending in the numbers 95 on weekends, or mornings, or evenings, pretty much anytime. (Again, how’s that transportation tax increase working for you?) […]
Then we have a situation here in Fredericksburg where VDOT wants to appropriate $500 million taxpayer funded (first called a GW Toll Road now changed to Rappahannock Pkwy so people won’t know what is being done) for a 3.5 mile road basically initiated by local developer, Silver’s Company, ( who have created all the traffic in the first place–let them pay for it) to “stop traffic congestion in the area” when they overdeveloped our area causing major gridlock and they want the taxpayer to pay for it. but really to open up roads in their commercial area for more development. And Charlie Kilpatrick worked for VDOT until Silver gave him a lucrative job in Boca Raton Florida for 8 years then comes back to the area and made Chief dog at VDOT and puts this Tolll RD/Pkwy on the priority list after it was dropped (now back on because of Kilpatrick). That $500 million should be going to I95 so that all the commuters can get to work to earn a living to take care of there families not allocated here in Fredericksburg to clean up the mess thr developers have created. You are darn right there are TOO MANY SPECIAL INTERESTS, CROOKED POLITICIANS, AND DIRTY DEALS. WE ARE THE FOOLS FOR LETTING THIS HAPPEN. We need to run them out of town and may they never come back. The taxpayer is working his tail off, sitting in traffic all day to get there, and paying for this mess on top of it.
Well said! I’m clapping! Be sure to ‘thank’ Speaker Howell for that when you vote for Susan Stimpson.
[…] By Jeanine Martin, The Bull Elephant […]
IMHO, the I-66 study is a set-up. There is a tremendous push to make I-66 a Public Private Partnership and create tolled HOT lanes for expansion. So, for all the hoopla about that Transportation Tax and the relief it will bring, we Loudouners will have the pleasure of having the Greenway tolls, the Dulles Toll Road tolls, Beltway HOT lane tolls, and I-66 HOT lane tolls. We will be surrounded by tolls.
This is maddening. Providing road infrastructure is a core function of state government.
If they divert transportation funding for something else, it is time to revolt.
When my wife and I were looking at moving out of Farifax, we chose Prince William over Loudoun because we didn’t feel like having to pay tolls just to go grocery shopping.
I think you may be on to something with your comment. Only time will tell but the political winds certainly look like they are blowing in that direction. Massive taxing to justify infrastructure needs while turning to privatization to wring further tax revenues out of existing infrastructure investments. Yet people still claim why the cynicism over this bill?
I’m nearly certain the study is a sham. It is like when reports come out that say there isn’t enough housing in Loudoun and unemployment is too low…which is just an excuse to approve more housing for some developer to make money.
What we should do with that Transportation Tax is BUY THE GREENWAY and reduce or eliminate tolls. That would be an actual transportation solution, but we’d rather waste billions on a Metro extension that does nothing to lessen congestion.
Surrounded by toll roads. Surrounded by crooks. What is a poor Loudouner to do?
It took decades for the roads to get as bad as they are now. Its naive to think things would get better before they got worse. Congestion always increases as construction projects start on busy roads. I’m still waiting for a specific list of $1 billion in yearly cuts to the budget from those who opposed the tax increase. Its possible I’ve missed something, but so far I’ve only seen generalities.
I’m waiting to see any hint of road project to help alleviate congestion on I-95 or I-66 or any other major road. When will the build a parallel road to I-95? Or at least add lanes? Since it takes a decade or more to do anything like that, because of environmental wackos, where’s the proposal for those road expansions?
I assume this can’t be due to lack of shovel ready jobs in the Virginia transportation sector because here in my county we frequently see VDOT by the roadside leaning on them. It’s always nice to tax today and claim future proposed results a DECADE down the “road” (pun intended). If I recall Obama used the same rational for the infrastructure portions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Let’s see six years later and we have a total of zilch to show for those billions and this Bill Howell and Bob McDonnell tax scam will result in the same outcome – WASTE.
Max, this is a fight about ideology in a Republican primary. Facts and logic have no place here.
Wrongo. It has nothing to do with ideology and everything to do with how our tax dollars are being used. We were lied to about the Transportation tax bill. That’s what this is about.
Jeanine, are you going to let the “Safari” Virginia Senate Majority Leader Tommy Norment “slither” away from his part in HB 2313?
Wasn’t he the part of the taxation “Trifecta” who rammed the largest tax increase in Virginia history through the Virginia Senate in 2013? Please do not hesitate to correct me if I am wrong?
Vote for Susan Stimpson!
Jeanine, don’t you remember? The 2013 taxportation boondoggle is going to allow people to take a train from Roanoke to Lynchburg. Doesn’t that help your commute? 😉 http://thebullelephant.com/taxportation-dollars/
How could I forget that? Who needs the expansion of I-95 when we can take a train from Lynchberg to Roanoke?!
I used to say we need to go underground with metro, subways etc. to solve the transportation problem in NOVA.
However, back then I wasn’t thinking about the power of the oil lobby!
No significant problem will ever be solved by a bunch of elected officials who are looking for campaign and PAC money. Our government is too corrupt to get anything right.
And then we have a corporate owned media that keeps America divided so that we cannot focus on the real problems that this country faces.