CLARKSBURG, W.Va. — How to pay for road repairs in West Virginia is a topic which has gained momentum in recent days. Members of the legislature are talking more and more about finding ways to increase the road maintenance budget. The Governor’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Highways suggests extending the Turnpike tolls past the 2019 sunset date and increasing DMV fees and the sales tax on automobiles.
Harrison County Delegate Patsy Trecost suggested a different idea. He wants to raise the state’s sales tax.
“Over a five year period we would raise the sales tax from six percent to seven percent,” Trecost said. “After that five year period, there’s language that lowers it back to six.”
Trecost suggested raising the tax by one percentage point would generate a billion dollars in the five year period and would create a road repair fund which was sustainable if properly used.
“Right now our roads are getting to the point where they are unsafe,” he said.”West Virginians understand we don’t’ need to complete projects right now or have any new ones, we need to generate revenue that only fixes what we have.”
It’s never popular to raise taxes, but Trecost said there’s no way around it, but there is a way to limit it if the state would stick to the language of a bill he plans to introduce next year.
“No one wants to raise taxes on anyone,” he said. “But at the same time, I think it would be a whole lot cheaper to pay a penny more on the dollar than to paid to fix the car after hitting that same pot hole over, and over, and over.”