DALLAS — Facing a shortage of revenue to finance major highway projects, Utah lawmakers are giving serious consideration to increasing the state's 24.5-cent gasoline tax for the first time since 1997.
The Republican-led House and Senate are considering two separate plans for increasing the tax. One plan would simply increase the levy per gallon. The other would adopt the sales-tax formula of taxing a percentage of the dollar amount purchased.
The state will need more revenue to cover a projected $11.3 billion gap in transportation funding through 2040, according to Carlos Braceras, executive director of the Utah Department of Transportation.
"We do not have a hole, but we see one in front of us, and we're trying to fill it before we get to it," Braceras told the Deseret News of Salt Lake City. "We're constantly being stressed on how to maintain the system."
The current 24.5-cent-per-gallon tax is actually equivalent to 16 cents per gallon in inflation-adjusted terms from when it was raised in 1997, he said. During that time, Utah has grown steadily, putting more stress on highways and bridges throughout the state.
Although Gov. Gary Herbert did not recommend a gas tax increase in his proposed 2016 budget, he is calling for lawmakers to remove a sales tax earmark for roads to free up funds for schools.
Herbert recently told the Deseret News and KSL editorial boards "now is the time" to raise the gas tax, whether that means boosting the per-gallon tax, imposing a sales tax or some combination of both.
House Speaker-elect Greg Hughes, R-Draper, told the News that Republicans in the House have the political will to take action on the gas tax.
"We think that it is a unique time, when gas prices are lower and we are not in a re-election year," Hughes said. "I think this session provides an important opportunity to do some heavy political lifting."
