Gas Tax Hike To Fix Roads May Be Dead Prince Says 7-Cent Increase Faces Uphill Battle Against Republican Resistance

Hopes of raising the state gas tax for road repairs are all but dead in the Legislature.

Sen. Eugene Prince, R-Thornton, said Monday his proposal to raise the gasoline tax 7 cents, plus a 2-cent local option, is sinking because of Republican reluctance to vote for a tax increase. “It’s dead,” Prince predicted.

“I think it’s a victim of the negative thinking. The feeling is that if the Republicans are going to stay in power it’s by them sending taxes back, not increasing them.”

Prince called the opposition from members of his own party short-sighted. “They don’t differentiate between a tax increase and this, which is a user fee.”

Dale Foreman, chairman of the state Republican Party, came out against the tax last week. Conservative radio talk show hosts have been flogging the tax hike proposal on the air.

Prince said lawmakers shouldn’t be rattled by the criticism.

“It’s our job to govern. If we aren’t willing to do that, then the state’s in trouble. I feel very strongly about making this place work.”

Sen. Jim West, R-Spokane, chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, said there’s little point in even voting on the tax hike in the Senate because support for it looks so shaky in the House.

“There’s just real concern about passing it out of here and taking a tax vote for no good reason. People are getting cold feet around here.”

Yet the state needs money for roads, West said. “The streets of Spokane look like Beirut.”

Rep. Karen Schmidt, R-Bainbridge Island, called the gas tax proposal “definitely wounded. It’s in the mortal stages.

“It’s because of a campaign of misinformation by talk radio,” she said. “We seem to have gotten caught up in the anti-government rhetoric. People are mad at government in general and we became the target.”

Schmidt said refusing to put more money into roads and other transportation improvements will hurt the state’s economy and public safety.

“People will spend more time in traffic. There will be more accidents. The backlog of projects will continue to grow. And it will hurt our competitive advantage,” she said.

“We are a trade-dependent state. Business will go other places where they spend money to attract them.”

With less than two weeks left in the legislative session, the only real option may be to pass a bare-bones transportation budget that contains no new money for any construction or improvements, Schmidt said. Only maintenance needs would be met.

Rep. Ruth Fisher, D-Tacoma, ranking minority member of the Transportation Budget and Policy Committee, said the gas tax proposal has also been hurt by the belief that the Department of Transportation isn’t wisely managing the money it already has.

A performance audit of the department is being pushed by Republicans to root out wasteful spending and inefficiency. Fisher called DOT’s critics “uninformed” and predicted no matter what the audit finds, enough savings would not materialize to pay for any significant road improvements.

“DOT does not have a coffee can of money buried somewhere in somebody’s yard,” Fisher said.

The state hasn’t increased the gas tax since 1990. By now, the state has lost purchasing power because the 23 cents-per-gallon state tax has been devalued by inflation.

Despite a strong campaign by business advocates around the state to increase the tax, including a big push from Spokane, the will to vote yes just hasn’t materialized.

Fisher believed Prince could pull the votes together because he’s from Eastern Washington and a known conservative.

“It’s like Nixon going to China. I thought he could do it.”

It’s not too late for a legislative miracle, but House Speaker Clyde Ballard, R-Wenatchee, had only two words to say about the gas tax proposal: “It’s hurting.”

, DataTimes