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Virginia gas prices will spike if no action is taken soon

Posted at 11:30 AM, Sep 11, 2014
and last updated 2014-09-12 06:37:48-04

Richmond, Va. – The Commonwealth enjoys some of the nation’s lowest gas prices, but that may not last for long.

One of the major reasons for this is a lower gas tax that was passed when the General Assembly approved its historic transportation bill in 2013.

But that may soon be changing because Richmond leaders believed Washington would pass new internet tax requirements, according to our sister station WTVR.

Buried in the Virginia transportation legislation, which also raised the state sales tax, was a caveat which stipulated that if Congress didn’t pass “E-Fairness legislation,” Virginia’s gas tax would increase January 1st 2015 – by 45 percent!

E-Fairness is a proposed bill that would require Internet sites to collect sales taxes when selling goods, as opposed to leaving it customers to report the sale on their own.

“The likelihood of them passing this is very low right now,” said State Senator John Watkins (R-Powhatan).

“It would of been probably a lot cleaner if we had just put the additional percentage in to begin with, and not base our assumptions on what Congress would or would not do,”