STAFF REPORTS
Published: April 18, 2008

While I know it’s not an easy job, I want to personally thank Speaker Bill Howell for fighting against unnecessary tax hikes, especially the gas tax. His continued leadership on responsible spending and lower taxes is much appreciated by this mother of four.

With skyrocketing gas prices, rising mortgage payments and economic uncertainty, now is certainly not the time to place the burden on families as we try to just live our lives, go to work and raise our kids. Increasing the gas tax not only affects families filling their own tanks, but also increases costs of goods that ultimately get passed down to you and me.

The Free-Lance Star recently opined that Speaker Howell should just stop the gimmicks and raise the gas tax, claiming that Virginia residents pay the 26th lowest gas-tax rates in America. Now I’m no math genius, but that puts us 24th from the top; right about in the middle. Where do the editors want us to be, at the top of the list? Perhaps that newspaper has also forgotten that Northern Virginia and the Fredericksburg region also have a 2 percent gas tax that goes toward VRE and Metro on top of the federal and state gas taxes.

Raising the gas tax will cripple the average working family. I urge the General Assembly to resist Gov. Kaine’s call for an increased gas tax.

Jennifer Brothers
Fredericksburg