Gas Tax Could be Going Up

[jumar]

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=1504134
They don't mention that we just voted to increase our taxes to cover this last fall....or a mention of a surplus...I'm getting pretty tired of our taxes getting raised.


Gas Tax Could be Going Up
July 19th, 2007 @ 6:20am
Ashley Hayes and Andrew Adams Reporting

Two legislative committees are considering raising the tax on gasoline in order to pay for road construction projects.

Utah created a per gallon gasoline tax to pay for road projects more than 50 years ago. According to the Deseret Morning News, a 24.5 five cents per gallon tax has been the standard for the last 12 years.

Transportation officials say they need more money to complete projects like widening I-15 in Utah County, rebuilding I-80 in east Salt Lake County and constructing the Mountain View Corridor.

Utah Taxpayers Association vice president, Royce Van Tassell wants to raise the gas tax by 25 cents per gallon. He says that would raise approximately $350 million per year.




Courtesy Andrew Adams, KSL Newsradio The Utah Taxpayers Association has suggested alternatives to increasing the per gallon tax to pay for those projects. Lobbyists recommend implementing congestion pricing, where drivers would be charged for driving through high-traffic areas. Another alternative they suggested is to double the per gallon tax and lower income taxes.

The last recommendation was to remove the sales tax exemption on gasoline so drivers would pay 4.75 percent tax on their total, which would also keep up with inflation.

Based on a Dan Jones poll from the spring, most Utahns were not in favor of adding taxes to what they already pay at the pump.

[CarpeyBiggs]

25 cents a gallon? Doesn't that seem a little excessive? 350 Mil is a lot of money. Yikes.

[donny h]

I was waiting for this. I think many states are going to try it, because the idiotic benchmark states have. How does that old saying go, so goes Ca. so goes the nation? It's somewhat true, and it somewhat sucks.

Ca. is paying .59/gal, NY .61/gal, and since those states have jacked up the tax without motorists rioting and looting the governors mansion, politicians all over the country are foaming at the mouth at the thought of doubling their state gas tax.

All during a time of record high prices.

Here's the scary part, all these states are going to raise the gas tax, and in a few years, the feds are going to do the same thing, they won't raise it $2 or $3 like some democrats have been calling for(TedK), but .50 or a dollar is possible (gotta pay for Hillarycare), so in some states, within just a few years, the gas tax ALONE could be $1.50 to $2 per gallon.

Welcome to Europe.

Meet you at the govs mansion?