Washington state considering gas tax hike

Washington state is considering increasing the amount of money drivers in their state will have to pay at the pump to help pay for transportation projects, The Spokane Spokesman-Review newspaper reports. 

Washington lawmakers have proposed to increase the state’s gas tax by 11.7 cents, according to the report. 

Drivers in Washington state currently pay a 37.50 cents-per-gallon excise tax on their gasoline purchases. The new levy will be collected on top of an 18.4 cents per gallon federal gas tax that is charged to all drivers in the nation to fill the federal government’s transportation funding coffers. 

{mosads}Washington is the latest in a series of states to consider increasing its gas tax in recent years as federal transportation funding has dried up. 

Lawmakers in Congress are currently facing a May 31 deadline for the expiration of federal transportation funding, and they are struggling to come up with a way to pay for an extension of the measure. 

Transportation advocates have pointed to the willingness of states like Washington to raise their own gas tax as evidence that a national hike would be politically palatable this year. 

Conservative groups have made clear that they would consider an increase in the federal fuel levy a tax hike, however.

The gas tax has been the main source of transportation funding for decades, but it has not been increased since 1993, sapping its buying power.

While the tax hike has backing from business associations and unions, opposition from conservative groups such as Heritage Action and the Club for Growth has caused GOP leaders in the House to suggest it is a non-starter.

The federal government typically spends about $50 billion per year on transportation projects, but the gas tax will only bring in $34 billion annually without an increase.