GOP governor’s gas tax hike veto overridden

The Nebraska state legislature has voted to override a veto of a proposal to increase gas taxes in the state to help pay for transportation projects, the Omaha World-Herald reports.

The decision, which dealt a high-profile defeat to first term governor Gov. Pete Ricketts (R), will result in the state’s current 25.6 cent-per-gallon gas tax gradually increaseing up to six cents more per gallon, beginning on Jan. 1. 

Ricketts said in a statement that was released by his office that he vetoed the measure because the increase would have made Nebraska gas taxes the 16th highest fuel levy in the nation. 

{mosads}“The Legislature’s decision to raise the gas tax hurts hardworking Nebraskans who can least afford a tax hike,” he said. 

“When I travel the state, Nebraskans tell me that they need tax relief, not tax increases,” Ricketts continued. “Our state already has the 13th highest property taxes, the 15th highest income taxes, and this tax hike makes our gas tax rate the 16th highest in the nation. This tax increase will not only hurt Nebraska’s hardworking families, but it will only make it more difficult to grow Nebraska because of our state’s burdensome tax climate.”

The new law calls for Nebraska gas taxes to increase by 1.5 cents-per-year until it reaches a total that is six cents more than drivers are currently charged at the pump. 

The additional money Nebraska drivers will now have to pay will be collected on top of an 18.4-cent-per-gallon federal gas tax that is charged to all drivers in the U.S. to fill the federal government’s transportation funding coffers. 

The American Petroleum Institute says the gas tax increase will the total amount of money that drivers in Nebraska were charged at the pump to nearly 51 cents per gallon. 

Nebraska is the latest in a series of states to try to increase their local gas tax in recent years as federal transportation funding has dried up.

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

Conservative groups in Washington have made clear 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, led GOP leaders in the House to call it a nonstarter.

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.  

The Department of Transportation has said that its Highway Trust Fund will run out of money in late July or early August if Congress does not come to an agreement on an extension in the next couple of weeks.

-This story was updated at 8:17 p.m. to clarify an earlier version.