Dumbest Idea of 2008?

That's what the Sun Gazette calls the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority's recent short-lived taxing authority.

According to the paper's editorial, "what appears to be an early contender for the 'dumbest idea of 2008': the decision by the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority to begin collecting taxes before confirming that it had the legal authority to do so."

The editorial laments that taxpayers will never really know the story on the legal advice NVTA officials got about the constitutionality of the legislation that gave them taxing authority. "In other words, did lawyers give NVTA leaders bad advice, or did they proffer sound advice, only to find themselves overruled?"

And according to the Sun Gazette, the "NVTA will do its utmost to shield it [that information] from ever coming to light."

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