In less than two months, Republicans voters will select their candidate for governor. And, as Michael Pope reports, one candidate is running on an unexpected idea.
Republican state Senator Frank Wagner of Virginia Beach wants to raise the gas tax to pay for new roads. That’s not a traditional Republican idea. But it is a traditional conservative idea.
“Well I think it goes back to Byrd and the whole issue of highways, honestly.”
That’s Toni-Michelle Travis at George Mason University. She’s talking about former Democratic Governor Harry Byrd, who promoted a pay-as-you go system of government for building roads — essentially using taxpayer money to build infrastructure rather than going into debt. She says that’s a pretty standard conservative idea, even if it’s not necessarily a Republican one.
“In terms of conservative use of money, you know, let’s plan ahead.”
She says maybe it’s not all that crazy of an idea for a Republican to campaign in favor of increasing taxes, especially if he’s promising to do something specific with the money — widening roads, for example, or transforming highways into new interstates.
“I think some people are beginning to realize that we must do something with our infrastructure, and for a Republican to promote the idea may be a way to promote jobs.”
Wagner’s two Republican opponents, Ed Gillespie and Corey Stewart, are actually moving in the opposite direction. Both of them are proposing tax cuts. Voters will decide which plan they like better in June.