Posted on 12/16/2006 1:16:37 AM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
AUSTIN — A report done for a group of business leaders who advise Gov. Rick Perry recommends increasing the state gasoline tax to pay for new highway construction in Texas.
The transportation report for the Governor's Business Council says most of the state's highway needs could be paid for by indexing the state gasoline tax to the cost of highway construction.
Such indexing would raise the tax by 8 to 12 cents a gallon immediately. The gas tax would rise from the current 20 cents a gallon to 59 cents a gallon by 2030, raising $74.6 billion in highway-construction funds, the report said.
Perry opposes fuel-tax increases, said spokesman Robert Black. State transportation Chairman Rick Williamson has pushed for privatization and toll roads as an alternative means of financing highway construction.
A bill to index the gas tax to the Consumer Price Index died in the 2005 Legislature.
The Governor's Business Council is made up of 100 business leaders who informally advise the governor on policy.
Leverage for more funds?
Chairman Michael Stevens, a Houston developer, said the gasoline tax would pay for all the highway-construction needs in major urban areas. He said it would not eliminate toll roads but would be used for construction and highway expansion.
Used as leverage for borrowing, the money could generate a total of $125 billion in construction funding, Stevens said.
"You have the ability to get an enormous amount of money," Stevens said.
The report was prepared last month by David Ellis and Tim Lomax of the Texas Transportation Institute at Texas A&M University.
While the report said toll roads could be an important part of building and maintaining highways in Texas, it emphasized that an indexed gas tax could pay for most of the state's highway needs.
The report said investing $66 billion in highway improvements over the next 25 years could save consumers $37 billion in fuel costs by easing congestion.
"They'd pay a little bit more for gasoline but use less gasoline," Stevens said.
The current fuel tax is 20 cents a gallon, a tax rate established in 1991. The report said that because of inflation, the tax is now worth 14 cents a gallon.
Indexing the motor-fuels tax would allow the revenue to be put into the Texas Mobility Fund and then leveraged for borrowing, the report said.
On toll roads, the report said all tolls, franchise fees and other financial benefits from a project should be reinvested in the same area of the state, and a region's use of toll roads should not be used to deny it other transportation dollars.
The report also said local governments should have the option of adopting local fuel-tax increases to pay for transportation infrastructure. Legislation to do that also failed in 2005.
The Texas Department of Transportation estimates that the funding shortfall for state and local highways through 2030 will be $86 billion, the report said. That is why Williamson and Perry have been pushing toll roads.
But the business council report said the transportation department's estimates include almost $22 billion in local highway construction that is paid for by local governments. It said when that and other factors are taken into account, the state actually will be about $56 billion short of paying for its highway needs.
The report said the entire state shortfall could be paid for with an initial fuel-tax increase of 12 cents a gallon.
Alternative bill
State Rep. Mike Krusee, R-Round Rock, carried the fuel-tax inflation index bill before. He said the index proposed in the business council report would be far more expensive for consumers than his index.
He said his would increase the tax at a rate of about 2 cents a year compared to a nickel for the alternative.
"You're talking about large increases in the gas tax forever," Krusee said of the council report.
Krusee said the proposed tax increase also would not eliminate the need for any of the planned toll roads. He said the shortfalls the report cites are for highway-construction needs beyond already-planned toll roads.
Trans-Texas Corridor PING!
(Somewhat off-topic)
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
Didn't I just read an article about how large percentages of money that's supposed to be spent on highways and transportation is actually diverted to other unrelated expenditures?
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
BTTT
Texas State Income Tax? No there is none in Texas, but they are going to get it from you one way or another... at least, from my prospective, the illegals, snowbirds, et.al, will be paying as well.
Mark
Which meams, Brownwood, Lubbock and El Paso can pay for Houston's roads. The cities can gang up and push the cost off on rural area residents who will never use the roads.
A better idea would be to levy a road construction tax on the developers, who will pass it on to the buyers who will be needing the new roads. This could be supplemented with a small city/county wide increase in property taxes to maintain roads.
"A better idea would be to levy a road construction tax on the developers, who will pass it on to the buyers who will be needing the new roads. This could be supplemented with a small city/county wide increase in property taxes to maintain roads."
They call that impact fees here in Florida AND they charge us gas taxes as well for transportation improvements AND propose new toll roads in the future for new roads and schools. I'm running out of orifices.
Why doesn't someone introduce legislation to give Houston to Louisiana? It would increase the average I.Q. of both Louisiana and Texas. We could also give them Austin.
Get an electric car! By the way, when all those yahoos were driving those electic cars, where was the road taxes coming from? Registration?
Spare us the inane spam, you have no idea what you are talking about. From the article (did you even read it?):
A bill to index the gas tax to the Consumer Price Index died in the 2005 Legislature...Perry opposes fuel-tax increases, said spokesman Robert Black. State transportation Chairman Rick Williamson has pushed for privatization and toll roads as an alternative means of financing highway construction.
Privatization. One of the principles the left so vigorously criticized Reagan about (and Thatcher, too.)
THERE IS ALREADY PLENTY OF MONEY FOR ROADS!
Let's see. There are millions more miles driven on Texas roads than they were designed for. So that means millions more gallons of gas consumed. That means millions more dollars in the state coffers for doing nothing more than sitting on their arses. Add to that the recent surge in property taxes along with sales taxes, etc. for all those extra people, and there should be a bounty of cashola to pay for new roads.
That is unless they already spent it on something else...
Yes, and the solution by some is to advocate raising gas taxes to pay for infrastructure improvements. Go figure.
bump.
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