State Sen. Dave Marsden, D-Fairfax County, the incoming chair of the Senate Transportation Committee, was surprised to run into so many young campaign workers this year who don’t own cars, but instead prefer to use ride-sharing services to get around.
But, he noted to the Senate Finance Committee retreat in Harrisonburg, they travel on roads.
And figuring out how to pay for those roads is a challenge at a time when a key traditional source — gas taxes — isn’t growing. Cars get increasingly better mileage, and more and more are powered by electricity.
In Virginia, even as the amount of driving people do is up — by about 3% between 2016 and 2018 — fuel tax collections declined 0.4%. Projections for fuel tax revenues have been off by more than $40 million in each of fiscal years 2018 and 2019.
And longer term — as Marsden noted — a growing number of younger Americans have simply stopped driving as much.
“We’re at a tipping point,” he said. (Later, he shared a favorite couple of lines from a limerick: “A tipping point’s like a ketchup bottle/First there’s a little, then there’s a lotta.”)
Still, one of the reasons why legislators, lobbyists and Shad Plank spend time at General Assembly money committee retreats is for hints of what’s to come, which so far nobody’s talked about much.
And, as committee staffer Jason Powell pointed out, 15 states and the District of Columbia have moved to tax ride sharing.
Twelve, including Maryland and the District, levy a tax on riders — a sales tax ranging from 1% to 7% in seven states and a fee of 10 cents to 50 cents per ride in five states. Five states charge fees ranging from $250 per ride share vehicle to $111,250 per year to the service operator to 0.25% of the operator’s gross revenue.
On another front, of the 26 states that charge electric vehicles a higher registration, Virginia’s $64 charge is the third lowest.
Considering that there’s a about $7 of transportation projects requested from VDOT compared to $1 actually allocated through the state’s Smart Scale system for matching dollars with top priorities, these numbers attracted rapt attention from the senators.
Hint, hint.
Shad Plank is the Daily Press blog that tracks Virginia politics. It takes its name from the traditional Shad Planking political get-together, though hopefully it is tastier than the roasted fish featured at that Sussex County event. To contact Dave Ress with tips or questions, call 757-247-4535 or email dress@dailypress.com.
