For all the talk Monday over Gov. Timothy M. Kaine’s transportation plan version 3.1, the most telling exchange may have occured between Del. Morgan Griffith and Del. Kirk Cox, two of the most influential voices in the House Republican Caucus.
After the pair criticized Kaine’s plan to levy sales taxes in Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia (hits working people too hard) and increase the grantor’s tax (hits the struggling home industry) they were asked by a reporter:
Uh…both Griffith and Cox voted three times for HB3202, which was later ruled unconstitutional since it gave taxing power to unelected bodies. They want to “fix” HB3202 by making the bodies elected, but want to continue to impose (yes, that’s the right word) the following taxes:
Northern Virginia Transportation Authority
The proposed legislation proposes a number of fees and taxes that may be adopted by local governments in the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority (the Authority) and paid to the Authority for specified uses. The proposed legislation, if all revenues were enacted on January 1, 2008, would generate $196.5 million in FY 2008 and $409.9 million in FY 2009.
The taxes and fees that localities are authorized to impose are:
Commercial Real Estate tax – 25 percent fair market value
Grantor’s Tax – 40 cents per $100
Motor Vehicle Rental Tax – 2 percent
Original Driver’s License Fee– $100
Transient Occupancy Tax – 2 percent[…]
Hampton Roads Transportation Authority
The proposed legislation creates the Hampton Roads Transportation Authority, which is to be comprised of local and state elected officials as well as other state representatives. The Authority would be given authority to issue debt, impose and collect tolls, administer contracts, and hire staff. The Authority must be in place by December 31, 2007, and the legislation requires affirmative action by seven localities representing half the population to create. The localities must take action by December 31, 2007, to impose the taxes and fees. The legislation also includes provisions to incorporate the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel Commission into the Authority in the future, once current debt obligations on the tunnel have been fully satisfied. The proposed legislation, if all revenues were enacted on January 1, 2008, would generate $84.6 million in FY 2008 and $188.8 million in FY 2009. The taxes and fees that localities are authorized to impose are:
Annual license fee – $10
Initial license fee – 1 percent retail value of vehicle
Vehicle inspection fee – $10
Sales and use tax on motor vehicle repairs – 5 percent
Grantor’s tax – $0.40 per $100 value
Rental car fee – 2 percent rental charge
Commercial real property tax – 0.10 percent fair market value of property
Sales tax on motor vehicle fuel – 2 percent
Notice anything that they’re now railing against? Like a grantor’s tax and sales tax increases in there?
Even funnier is Griffith is so much in love with HB3202 that he voted against repealing the “abusive driver fees” (part of HB3202) two times this last session.