Tom Warne Report, 23 January 2013
MADISON, WI – A state commission is endorsing a $120 fee hike for the average Wisconsin driver, needed to cover basic maintenance of the state’s existing transportation system. In a plan to be submitted to the Legislature next Wednesday, the commission proposes a registration fee that varies based on how much a person drives. The plan is based on the commission’s study of ways to cover a $2 billion gap in current revenue compared to actual costs for keeping up the existing roads, bridges and transportation infrastructure.
Commission member Craig Thompson said motorists’ mileage reporting would be based on the honor system, and would not use GPS monitors. The fee would be a little more than a penny per mile between 3,000 and 20,000 miles per year for cars, no more than $204. The charge would replace the current flat fee of $75, and trucks and other vehicles would have differing fee hikes using the same concept.
The panel also recommends a 5 cent hike in the gas tax, a $34 increase to driver’s license renewal fees, and eliminating a sales tax exemption on trade-ins. The total from these could bring is an additional $479 million annually. Republican Gov. Scott Walker has always been a big opponent of tax increases, but the GOP has been an advocate of infrastructure so the proposals are not expected to be rejected outright, according to Assembly Democrat Gordon Hintz of Oshkosh. He said something needs to be done to increase funding so new projects are not delayed and existing facilities do not continue to deteriorate.