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NC gasoline tax slated to rise on New Year's Day (RATS mixed on special session to kill it)
Franklin Press ^ | 12/30/05

Posted on 12/31/2005 8:11:22 AM PST by Libloather

Gasoline tax slated to rise on New Year's Day
Lawmakers scramble to freeze nearly 3-cents hike
From staff reports

Macon County motorists are bracing for a state gasoline tax hike that will greet them at the pump on New Year's Day.

On Sunday, the state tax on gasoline will jump by nearly 3 cents to a total of 29.9 cents per gallon. The increase will boost the tax to its highest level in state history.

And North Carolina's gas tax will become the highest per gallon in the Southeast and the sixth highest in the U.S.

The automatic tax also will hit home heating oil users, too, no doubt causing financial hardship to elderly and low-income residents.

State Rep. Phil Haire, who represents Macon County in the N.C. House of Representatives, has joined with other legislators in asking Gov. Mike Easley to call a special session after the first of the year to suspend the increase for six months.

On Wednesday, Easley rejected the request, saying the state needs the money to fund transportation projects. Each penny of gas tax generates about $53 million annually.

Easley also said he has set aside $10 million in a partnership with utilities to help pay the heating bills this winter of low-income families.

Haire was one of four legislators from Western North Carolina who signed the letter to the governor. “My thinking is, we need to try and help the folks on fixed incomes,” he said. “People using heating oil will need the help the most.”

State Sen. John Snow, whose district in the Senate includes Macon County, said he's not opposed to a special session. Snow says his biggest concern is with the rise in the gallon price of heating oil. “People on fixed incomes will have a hard time meeting their cold weather payments in fuel oil,” he said.

Despite Easley's opposition to the special session, lawmakers say they are working on another method to convene a special session. That constitutional method requires the approval of at least three-fifths of the members of the House and Senate. Seventy-two signatures would be needed in the House and 30 in the Senate.

The tax hike could not have come at a worst time, here at the beginning of winter when bad weather can affect workers' paychecks.

Gas prices statewide are now are up nearly 40 cents a gallon, compared to this time last year.

The price per gallon now averages between $2.17 and $2.24. Gas is predicted to remain above $2 per gallon, but that depends on demand and potential disasters.

The tax increase will kick in automatically Jan. 1 based on the way the gasoline tax law is written. A portion of North Carolina's gas tax is based on the average wholesale price of motor fuel.

North Carolina has a flat tax rate of 17.5 cents per gallon, plus 25 cents a gallon inspection fee. The rest of the tax is the variable wholesale component, which amounts to 3.5 cents per gallon or 7.5 percent of the average wholesale price for the preceding six months, whichever is greater.

The wholesale price component has jumped from 4.6 cents in July 2002 to the present 9.6 cents. It is adjusted twice a year.

Bills have been introduced in the House and Senate in the past to cap that portion of the state tax that rises with the wholesale price of gas, but the bills failed to be enacted.


TOPICS: Extended News; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: North Carolina
KEYWORDS: carolina; day; gas; gasoline; kill; new; north; rats; resist; rise; session; slated; special; tax; taxincrease; year
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To: alancarp

That is STILL on Mrs. CD's car. :)


21 posted on 01/03/2006 8:56:53 AM PST by Constitution Day
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To: Constitution Day

And my truck! May have to get a new batch...


22 posted on 01/03/2006 7:41:40 PM PST by alancarp (Will hack code for oil)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]


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