Letter: Gruenhagen vows to oppose state gas tax hike

To the editor,
During the last legislative session, House and Senate Republicans made historic investments in our roads and bridges without raising the gas tax by statutorily dedicating already existing automotive related taxes to fix our roads and bridges. Thanks to this legislation, we were able to increase transportation funding by around $418 million per biennium without raising taxes.
This year, House Democrats passed legislation that transfers $418 million out of the transportation fund back to the general fund to pay for a number of new government programs.
In order to backfill the $418 million hole in transportation funding, Democrats are proposing a 20 cent—70 percent—gas tax increase. This will be implemented through a $.05 increase per year for four years, then an automatic inflator each year after.
Each one-cent increase in the gas tax brings in about $33 million per-year in additional revenue. Therefore, a good portion of the gas tax increase would be used to simply backfill the funding being transferred away from roads and bridges by Democrats. Because of this, the next few years will see less money for roads and bridges with the gas tax increase.
This is a bait and switch scheme initiated by the Governor and the Democrat house.
Further, it is important to remember that a gas tax is regressive and hurts the poor and senior citizens the most. It will also increase the price of all goods and services transported by vehicles.
Please contact the Governor’s office (651-201-3400) and House Democrat leadership (651-296-4280) and tell them no gas tax increase.
Rep. Glenn Gruenhagen, Glencoe, House District 18B