Washington state increasing gas tax by 7 cents

Washington is increasing the amount of money drivers in the state will have to pay at the pump to help fund transportation projects as federal road funding dries up, The Spokesman-Review reports. 

State lawmakers approved a proposal that will increase the state’s gas tax by 7 cents, according to the Spokane, Wash., newspaper. 

Washington drivers are currently charged a tax of 37.5 cents per gallon on gas purchases. 

{mosads}The new Washington fuel 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. 

The American Petroleum Institute says the gas tax increase will bring the total amount of money that drivers in Washington are charged at the pump to nearly 45 cents per gallon. 

Washington is the latest state to increase its own gas tax in recent years as the future of federal transportation funding looks uncertain. Six other states implemented such hikes on July 1. 

Lawmakers in Congress approved a three-month extension of federal transportation funding this week that will extend the nation’s road and transit spending until Oct. 29. They faced a deadline of midnight Friday for the expiration of federal transportation funding and were only able to agree on a temporary patch.  

National transportation advocates have pointed to the willingness of states such as Washington to raise their own gas taxes as evidence that a national hike would be politically palatable this year. 

Conservative groups in Washington have made clear that they would consider any such move a tax hike, however, and Republican lawmakers have explicitly ruled it out.

The national gas tax has been the traditional source of transportation funding since its inception in the 1930s. But the tax has not been increased since 1993, and increased vehicle fuel efficiency has sapped its purchasing power. 

The federal government typically spends about $50 billion per year on transportation projects, but the gas tax only brings in approximately $34 billion annually at its current rate. 

Lawmakers have turned to other areas of the federal budget in recent years to close the $16 billion per year gap, but transportation advocates have said the resulting temporary funding measures are preventing states from completing large construction projects.

President Obama is expected to sign the temporary highway funding patch on Friday, though he has pushed for a long-term transportation spending bill.

-This article was updated on Aug. 3 at 10:13 a.m. to correct an earlier version.