Doyle: Bring back gas tax indexing

[undeterred]

The state should consider returning to automatic increases in its gas tax, Gov. Jim Doyle said Tuesday.

A return to the so-called "indexing" of the tax would represent a reversal for the Democratic governor. In the face of a widespread concern over rising gas prices in December 2005, Doyle and the Republican-controlled Legislature repealed the yearly increases in the state's gas tax, the second-highest in the nation.

But the state is now facing a $5.4 billion projected budget shortfall as well as challenges for the state road fund, which uses gas tax money to pay for highways and bridges. And some business groups have signaled a willingness to return to the automatic increases.

"The simple fact is that where Wisconsin went, where Republicans took us, is unsustainable for transportation (infrastructure), where you say, that's basically it on the gas tax, regardless of what the costs are and what the needs are," Doyle said in a year-end interview with the Wisconsin State Journal. "I think that indexing had served us pretty well for a long period of time."

Wisconsin's motor fuels tax is now 30.9 cents per gallon, which as of January made it second only to the 36-cent tax in Washington state, said Dale Knapp, research director for the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance. Wisconsin also adds 2 cents per gallon for an environmental clean-up fund.

The annual increases linked the gas tax to the federal consumer price index, which tracks inflation. Chris Klein, executive assistant at the state Department of Transportation, said it's not possible to predict the amount of an inflationary increase going forward. But in the past, automatic increases in the tax amounted to about 1 cent a year — or about $30 million statewide.

Senate Minority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, said the governor was going back on a change that created "greater accountability" for taxpayers by making lawmakers vote on each increase in the gas tax.

"Consumers have finally found some relief at the pump, and now the governor wants to increase their burden during these uncertain economic times," he said.

Spurred by conservative talk radio and bloggers, the movement to repeal the automatic increases took the Capitol by surprise three years ago, overcoming initial concerns from Doyle and the then Republican leadership of the Legislature.

Signing the repeal three years ago, Doyle said, "It's not appropriate to raise taxes every year automatically, without elected officials having to stand up and be accountable to the people who are paying taxes."

The incoming leaders of Legislature, Assembly Speaker Mike Sheridan, D-Janesville, and Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker, D-Weston, both voted against repealing the inflationary increases in 2005. A spokeswoman for Sheridan said Tuesday that "everything is on the table." Decker could not be reached for comment.

Matthew Hauser, president of the Wisconsin Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association, said his group preferred a "straight-up gas tax increase" to a separate proposal from the Doyle administration to levy a new tax on oil companies to help pay for roads.

Pat Goss, executive director of the Wisconsin Transportation Builders Association, also praised Doyle's comments. "The governor's right on," Goss said. "It was a mistake when we repealed it."

Klein said the state's road fund has been stressed by higher building costs as well as the need to replace aging infrastructure and undertake massive projects such as the Marquette and Zoo interchanges in Milwaukee. Klein said the fund has also been stressed by a decline in consumer gas purchases, even after prices came down from this summer's peaks.

Republicans have also criticized Doyle for transferring money out of the road fund to help balance the state budget and then replacing it with borrowed funds. Doyle said Tuesday he didn't want to transfer more money out of the fund in the next budget but wouldn't rule it out.

In the interview, Doyle also said that he would be reluctant to repeal exemptions to the state sales tax to help solve a $5.4 billion budget hole. Some Democratic lawmakers have pushed for closing those exemptions as a way to raise revenue.

But Doyle said he had reservations about both the substance and the political chances of such a proposal. "I do think you open up a whole big series of fights on the exemptions," he said.

http://www.madison.com/wsj/topstories/430109

[Jackpine Radical]

1. The real solution for Wisconsin is to restore progressivism to its income tax,

and to enact a corporate income tax.

In a largely rural state with little public transportation, where a lot of poorly paid working people have to drive many miles to work in their old gas hogs, a gas tax tends to be very regressive. And fuel prices are not going to stay down in the long run.

[undeterred]

2. Doyle can't think of anyone to tax but us.

The idea of taxing corporations would probably never occur to him- which tells me that he's probably running again in 2010. Even though the price of gas has come down, I hate this. Right now I am driving from Madison to Waukesha for work- 57 miles. When jobs are scarce, everybody drives.

[Jackpine Radical]

3. I blame Kathleen Falk for this whole mess.

If she hadn't been in the primary in 2002, Barrett would be the governor now. If she hadn't taken out Peg Lautenschlager with Doyle's connivance in that dirty 2006 primary, Peg would still be AG. Kathleen is a stalking horse for Doyle. Doyle is an asshole in Democrat's clothing.

The Wisconsin Democratic party needs a big house cleaning, starting with Wineke.

[MessiahRp]

4. I propse a 20 year moratorium on any new Highway construction in Fond Du Lac

I moved to Oshkosh in 1990 and it seems that same stretch of highway has been under construction perpetually since at least then... Time to get that fixed and leave it alone for once.

Rp