Tom Warne Report, 8 February 2013
HARRISBURG – Pennsylvania’s governor is proposing a multi-year transportation plan that includes a hike in the oil company franchise tax while lowering the flat gasoline tax. Gov. Tom Corbett’s transportation proposal was released on the same day as his 2013-2014 budget proposal, and he said his plan could bring more than $5 billion in transportation funding over five years, by changing the way taxes are levied.
“This is not a new tax, nor am I proposing to increase the rate of the existing tax,” Corbett said during his address. “I am simply saying the time has come to apply it to the full value of what the company is selling.”
Corbett’s plan would lower the flat tax paid by consumers and raise the tax gas stations pay on fuel. His administration said this would not necessarily raise the price of gas for consumers. Corbett predicts that next year, the state will spend about a half-billion dollars on improvements to roads, bridges, and other parts of the system. By the fifth year of the plan, the state’s transportation system would get $1.8 billion worth of improvements.
While lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have committed to solving the state’s transportation funding problems, dozens of legislatures have also pledged no-new-taxes. In his address, Corbett called transportation the “bloodstream” of the state’s economy. “If it fails, our economy fails,” he said.