Delegate John Welch III said Thursday that he supports a 10-cents per gallon increase in the gas tax to pay for transportation. Welch, a Republican from Virginia Beach, has been an ardent opponent of any tax increases. According to the Virginian-Pilot, his change of heart took place on Election Day.
“I worked the polls for 13 hours… and people told me they want something done,” he said. “They don’t like taxes but they want action. I will entertain fees or gas tax increases for the good of Virginia.”
As a condition of his support, Welch wants a constitutional amendment to lock up the transportation tax fund.
Kudos to Welch for listening to his constituents. Perhaps with the entire General Assembly up for re-election in 2007 some progress will be made on the issue of transportation.
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
Great… More tax and on gas no less.
What I do not understand is why Dems support gas hikes. I mean when you look at any tax, the one that hits the poor the most is gas tax. It is not income based and poor people have to pay the same actual ammount as rich people, but poor people get hit harder. Simple ratio math of income to expenses, and the poorer wokers tend to drive more.
But in the end there is not a tax that Dems don’t love and now a Republican has jumped on that bandwagon. Disapointing.
I say increase the auto sales tax from 3% to 4%. The more the car costs, the more you pay. Sure, not real Republican of me, but c’mon, a gas tax? Almost as bad as raising the general sales tax.
How much will that increase in the sales tax generate? And remember, Welch is a Republican who is supporting the gas tax increase, so don’t blame it on the Ds 😉
BTW – yes, the gas tax is regressive. But then so is a national sales tax, one of the many proposals being floated to replace the income tax. And because of it being regressive, I could never support a national sales tax.