Even as
House Republican leaders scour their caucus
for votes for H.B. 170, at least one of their number has drifted into the “no”
column.
As our AJC colleague Aaron Gould
Sheinin reported last week, the revised
transportation bill didn’t land on Friday’s
House calendar. That may have given opponents more
time to regroup.
Today we got word from state Rep.
David Stover, R-Palmetto, that he’s taking his name off the list of sponsors
because it amounts to a “$500 million tax increase.”
House leaders are set to speak at an
afternoon press conference. The topic will be tax reform, but they can expect
some questions on this as well. From
Stover’s Facebook post:
As it
currently stands, it would be a $500 million tax increase and I cannot and will
not support any such increase on the backs of our citizens. 6.1 billion gallons
of gas and diesel are sold in Georgia each and every year. The increase would
first, wipe out the state sales tax portion on fuel purchases, this is an
offset. Second, it will move the total tax to $.292 / gallon on gasoline and
$.33 / gallon on diesel fuel. This is only $.0108 / gallon more than what we
are all paying right now at the pump. The problem is that the local portion of
the gasoline tax will remain.
This
amounts to $.0728 / gallon and that is the increase per gallon that each and
every Georgian would be facing if this bill passes. I was told to put it into
perspective, the increase amounts to about $86 per Georgia driver per year.
This would not be an issue had we offset the tax burden on Georgian’s somewhere
else. It may not be an issue had the budget included increased spending for
transportation out of the general funds.
If we, as
a legislature, are going to ask our fellow citizens to pay more at the pump,
then the state should be happy to drop some of its pet projects and dedicate
more funding from the general fund towards transportation. The budget being
presented to us this week did not even bother to move the 4th penny from the
sale of motor fuel over to transportation. I cannot, and will not, support this
bill in good conscience.
Not surprisingly, Erick Erickson of
Redstate.com has come out against H.B. 170 as well, with the words “massive”
and “tax increase.”
From this afternoon’s post:
The
Republicans are structuring the gas tax so that all the money raised at the
pump will go to the state. Currently, cities get some, counties get some, and
the state gets some. Under the pending plan, 100% of the money will go to the
state. They’re considering changing that slightly.
But the
net result will be the same. Every city and county in Georgia will be forced to
raise new taxes to pay for roads and bridges. They’re operating the same way
they are operating with RFRA. Makes sense considering they’re using the Chamber
of Commerce play book on both.
With
RFRA, they’ll gut it, then pass it and claim to have supported it all along.
With
transportation, they’ll pass it knowing it will force massive new taxes, but
claim they did not vote for a tax increase.
http://politics.blog.ajc.com/2015/02/23/a-public-retreat-by-a-sponsor-of-georgias-push-for-more-transportation-cash/
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