Poll Shows Support for Tax Increase

The statewide poll of 1,004 likely voters in November's election was conducted Oct. 10-12 and has a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.

Despite intense support for action in Northern Virginia, the poll suggests that people in other parts of the state feel less urgency about transportation problems.

For example, just 9 percent of the people in Lynchburg and Southside Virginia and 16 percent in Richmond said it is "extremely important" that the state spend more on roads. That compares with 40 percent of people in Northern Virginia who said the transportation needs are "extremely important."

There is a measure of hope for Northern Virginians: Two-thirds of respondents in the rest of Virginia were willing to allow regions to raise their own taxes to fund transportation.

Statewide, however, voters remain split about how to finance the needed work.

Asked how they would prefer government to pay for new transportation projects, 17 percent said higher taxes on all Virginians would be their first choice. Twenty-three percent said government should reduce spending on other services. And 32 percent said government should increase user fees, such as tolls.

Elected leaders in Northern Virginia said they are not surprised by the results, especially the expression of frustration with General Assembly members.

"They treat us like a bank," Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerald E. Connolly (D) said of the legislature. "If we have needs, they are transparently uncaring and unresponsive while they are taking billions of dollars in sales and income tax revenue. Our voters are smart. They get it. That's not a good deal."

Connolly and other elected officials in Northern Virginia have pushed for statewide tax increases that would boost transportation spending statewide. Those efforts have been blocked largely by Republicans in the House of Delegates, who say they oppose any general tax increase to pay for road improvements.

Del. Leo C. Wardrup Jr. (R-Virginia Beach), chairman of the House Transportation Committee, said members of the public are often willing to say they will support tax increases for roads until they are presented with a specific plan to do so.

"When people talk about, 'Yes, we're willing to see a rise in taxes,' the next question is, 'Who's it going to be on?' " he said. "I really question the veracity of these polls."

The House GOP has paid for its own polls, which it said show no appetite for tax increases in Northern Virginia or elsewhere.