Democratic Governor Tim Kaine unveiled a new plan Monday that calls for increased taxes to pay for transportation projects. The state government needs to offset a $1 billion shortfall in funding for transportation projects.

Virginians would pay a higher sales tax when they buy a car and $10 more when they register a vehicle, if the plan gets through the General Assembly. State Republicans spoke out quickly following Kaine's announcement.

"I announce today my best effort," says Kaine. "Having worked with and dialogued with all four caucuses and many out in the community a compromise plan that I'm going to submit to the General Assembly that I think meets the state's needs."

Delegate Chris Saxman (R - 20th District) says the Governor is asking for too much.

"This is probably a little bit aggressive for what the real needs of Virginia are," says Saxman.

In addition to state-wide taxes, Kaine's plan calls for increased sales taxes in northern Virginia and Hampton Roads. Just last year, the state Supreme Court struck down a plan to allocate $600 million specifically to those areas.

"Amendments to the transportation program last year were deemed unconstitutional," says Saxman. "I don't know why Virginians are going to have to pay a billion dollars to fix [Kaine's] mistakes."

"What I think has raised a lot of concerns is that the governor has taken this simply as an opportunity not just to replace that $600 million but to almost double that," says Mark Obenshain (R - 26th District).

Obenshain says he wants to make sure projects in the Valley get the funding they need too.

"We know that we have some projects that are in dire need of making sure there's funding adequate to complete them," says Obenshain. "For example, Port Republic Road."

The General Assembly will hold a special session in June to debate the bill, with a lot of push back from state Republicans.

"But if we do what the governor wants to do, and that's embark on this bigger debate about the need for state-wide tax increases, you know we're right back to the same spot we've been in for the past four or five or six years," says Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling (R).

Kaine's going to hold a series of town hall meetings with the public to discuss the proposal. There will be one in Staunton at Mary Baldwin College at 6:30 p.m. May 22.