Whom should we tax?

Posted on August 4, 2006 by Jim Duncan

Not me. Tax him over there. Maybe we should tax those who have moved to the area in the past five years. Or ten. Just so long as it’s not me. But … fix those roads!

Bacon’s Rebellion responded to the RTD’s transportation poll last week. The Daily Progress speaks this week (HT: CvilleTomorrow) about said poll and advocates specifically for a gas tax.

Growth affects everybody – those who live here, those who move here, those whose livelihoods depend on the real estate market …

Until we can trust our government to do what is right, no progress will be made. Should we continue to allow our regional transportation needs to stagnate and deteriorate, our region (and Commonwealth) will slide in terms of our hallowed rankings and simply as a nice place to live.

The longer we wait to build vital infrastructure, the more this infrastructure will ultimately cost to build. Simple. Those who delay are demonstrating negligence towards their constituents.

Gas tax, grantors’ tax, transfer tax … the government gets the money. How they use it is a different story.

Let’s contract our infrastructure out to UVA – referring to the Transportation Matrix, they are the only ones able to have “completed” next to their project.

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About Jim Duncan

A Charlottesville Realtor who tries to stay on the bleeding/cutting/functional edge of technology and real estate trends. I have been selling real estate for the past 10 years, lived in C'Ville for twenty+ and am married to one of few Charlottesville natives left.
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  • TrvlnMn

    It’s an easy solution. I’ve said it before and been shouted down (so to speak)- “It will raise the cost of housing” and “It will make housing in the area even more unaffordable.”

    The state of Virginia is bassakward by comparison to the rest of the nation. It needs to allow local governments the right to *REQUIRE* proffers from developers to cover the cost of new infrastructure demands that any new development would put on the area.

    Yes a portion of that cost would probably be passed on to the new homeowners. But I’d consider it a “Buy in” to living in the area or the newest development. Instead of the backward communist system we have now- were developers get a free pass and everyone else foots the bill.

    The city of Las Vegas issued special bond measures attached to some big neighborhood developments in the area. The bonds were in addition to the cost of the house and real estate tax, and couldn’t be pre-paid. But the money generated by them was put into a fund that was used to improve their transportation infrastructure in part by completing a interstate “beltway” around the city.

    The issue of affordable housing in this situation is a “red-herring.” Because affordable housing in this area a joke. It’s something the local politicians only pay lip service to, and their actions clearly prove the lie. (Luxury Condos getting approval in the downtown mall area. The beginnings of a redevelopment push in the Cherry avenue area- which will most likely result in more of the same).

    Right now the only people I see making any effort to address the issues of “affordable housing” are organizations like “Habitat for Humanity”,”Piedmont Housing Alliance” and realtors like yourself. (Although I wouldn’t think that teachers with a starting salary of 36,575 would have that much problem putting together a downpayment- I certianly wouldn’t making that much. But then what do I know?)

    Point is.. long story short (I know- too late) Localities need to be allowed to *require* proffers from developers for the infrastructure improvements and demands their developments will make.

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