Legislation, proposed by Virginia’s right-wing nut bag governor and passed by Virginia’s apparently right-wing nut bag Assembly, that includes removing our 17.5% gas tax, not changed for 25 years, and replacing it with a 0.8% sales tax increase makes no sense to me, probably because I am not a right-wing nut bag. This is just redistribution of wealth to the wealthy and cannot help with Virginia’s transportation infrastructure problems nor can it help to reduce consumption of gas or vehicle created pollutants.
Read more here about the current state of the legislation:
Va. lawmakers give McDonnell partial win on transportation at session midpoint
Below is my letter to my representatives asking them please to not let this legislation pass:
Please don’t let this legislation pass. I think about all the poor people who ride buses because they can’t afford cars. Their environmental and consumptive impact is minimal thereby reducing long term costs to our environment and infrastructure. They are the least likely to benefit from no gas tax and most likely to be negatively impacted by an increase in the sales tax.
On the flip side, those in the upper middle class and higher who can afford to and are more likely to buy and drive unneeded gas hogs including SUV’s and sports cars will certainly benefit from no gas tax. They will then contribute less to minimizing the economic impact of pollutant spewing gas hogs and the degradation of our transportation infrastructure. Lastly, since they have more disposable income, the impact of a 0.8% increase in the sales taxes is much less likely to impact their personal finances.