Caledonia Argus

Debate on gas tax stalled

Posted: 4/2/02

by T.W. Budig
ECM capitol reporter

Like a car going down the highway, the House transportation finance bill Tuesday, March 26, made a hum, stirred a few papers, and was gone.

An anticipated debate on raising the state gas taxóa feature of the Senate transportation package ó never occurred.

ìThe transportation bill really didnít offer much for the State of Minnesota,î said House Minority Leader Tom Pugh, DFL, South St. Paul.

ìSome people say it wasnít even worth talking about,î he said.

The bill, which passed the House on a 71 to 61 vote, provides for some $750 million in trunk highway bonding over five years in staggered amounts.

For 2003, the $150 million in bonding would be split into thirds, going to at-risk transportation corridors, fixing metro bottlenecks, and capacity improvements.

In future years, five percent of the bonding would be slated to transit.

House Republicans argue that annual revenue increases seen in the gas tax, increased vehicle sales tax revenue and other sources will be sufficient to pay the debt service on the bonds.

These sources can yield up to an additional $30 million, according to Republican staff.

But House DFLers maintain the increases will not cover the debt service. ìSo it would send us backward,î said Pugh of the bonding proposal.

House Majority Leader Tim Pawlenty, R, Eagan, said the majority of the House Republican caucus did not support raising the gas tax.

ìThereís going to have to be a clash of ideas that will have to work itself out,î he said of House and Senate conference committee deliberations.

The Senate is proposing six cents per gallon increase in the gas tax to go into effect this June.

Senate DFLers argue the six cent increase would bring Minnesota inline to Wisconsinís gas tax. But Republicans argue itís bad policy to raise taxes during a recession.

He didnít know how House Republicans would react to a transportation conference committee bill returning to the House floor with a gas tax increase, said Pawlenty.

In part conference committee actions will be guided by the anticipatedìglobalî budget agreement worked out between House and Senate, Pawlenty indicated.

To Pugh the skittishness of House Republicans on the gas tax traces to gubernatorial politics.

ìIf you look under ëCongestion.com,í youíll probably be linked to the (Brian) Sullivan and Pawlenty campaigns,î he quipped.

Sullivan and Pawlenty are both Republican candidates for governor. Sullivan opposes a gas tax increase.

Sen. Dean Johnson, DFL, Willmar, Senate transportation finance chair, said the gas tax will kept alive into April. He expects House Republicans will be getting phone calls from a statewide transportation coalition asking for a gas tax increase.

ìItís (the coalition) the largest Iíve seen in years,î he said.

But everything will be linked to the global agreement, he said.

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