Gas Tax

HSB 547, introduced last week, increases the gas tax by 8 cents over two years, and also increases the fee for new registration (use tax) from 5% to 6%.

Increasing the gas tax remains our top priority, but it’s going to be a hard sell and an even harder sell if we don’t stay focused on one clear message: Increase the gas tax and maintain the $225 million cap on the TIME-21 Fund. Once that cap is met, all funding from increases in the fuel tax, vehicle registration fees, etc., are diverted to the Road Use Tax Fund, of which counties receive 32.5%.

We need to remain unified in our message. When other messages are sent, it muddies the waters and gives the opposition the ability to seize control – killing any chance we have of getting additional road funding. Legislators have vocalized that they will not consider a gas tax increase if the message to them is to change the road funding distribution formula.

The momentum to increase the gas tax is there and we have legislators’ attention. They’re becoming aware of the increasing debt used by counties to pay for roads. We need to communicate to legislators that counties will continue to sink deeper into debt without additional road funding. We also need to make clear that fuel taxes are constitutionally restricted to be spent on roads, and that additional funding is vital for our state’s ever-increasing deteriorating roads and for growing the state’s economy.

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