PHOENIX — State lawmakers took the first steps Wednesday to what could be a doubling of the state’s gasoline tax.
House Bill 2899, approved by the House Transportation Committee on a 6-0 vote, would add six cents on July 1 to the current 18-cents-a-gallon tax. That would go up an additional six cents every year until it hits 36 cents.
Potentially more significant, the levy would also increase annually after that to match inflation, under the measure being pushed by Rep. Noel Campbell, R-Prescott. That would preclude the need for future legislators to deal with the politically sensitive issue of voting for a tax hike.
Rep. Bob Thorpe, R-Flagstaff, said lack of political willpower is how Arizona got to the point where it is now, with road construction needs outstripping available revenues because the current tax has not increased since 1991.
“We haven’t had members with the backbone to adjust this,” he said.
But the inflation adjustment is giving heartburn to the Arizona Petroleum Marketing Association, which represents gasoline dealers. Lobbyist Mike Williams told lawmakers that if the 1991 legislation had an inflation index, Arizona now would have the highest gasoline tax in the Western states.
Campbell’s measure would not just hit up drivers of gas-driven vehicles to raise revenues. It also addresses diesel fuel.
Also, the bill would impose new taxes on hybrids and all-electric vehicles on the basis that they, too, use the roads but, from Campbell’s perspective, are not paying their fair share of construction and maintenance costs.
The move comes even as Gov. Doug Ducey has consistently said he does not believe the state needs additional gasoline taxes.
Campbell is counting on a rising public sentiment for better roads to get him the two-thirds margin he constitutionally needs in the Republican-controlled House and Senate for a tax increase, and to convince Ducey there is broad support for the plan. He got House Speaker Rusty Bowers, R-Mesa, to testify in favor.
And Tony Bradley, president of the Arizona Truckers Association, whose members would pick up a big share of the additional cost, added his voice.
He figured the delays for truckers due to traffic congestion currently cost more than $800 million a year. By contrast, Bradley estimated, the legislation would raise an additional $640 million a year with the higher fuel taxes on everyone.
“This bill would save us by paying more,” he said. “And we’re willing to pay more.”
But gubernatorial press aide Patrick Ptak said after the hearing that Ducey’s views have not changed.
Campbell’s bill would require the state transportation board to come up with a plan to use the new revenues and have it updated every five years to show the progress made.
That report would go to legislative leaders and committees to review. Campbell said if they were dissatisfied with how the money was being spent they could put a measure on the ballot recommending that voters rescind the additional taxes.
The proposed new taxes on electric vehicles drew opposition from Tesla.
Lobbyist Meghaen Dell’Artino said she believes the formula for the levy, based on electricity used, would have Tesla owners pay more than the owners of gasoline-powered vehicles.
Caryn Potter of the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project registered her own objections, saying higher taxes on all-electric vehicles could discourage people from buying them. That would harm the environment, particularly with some Arizona cities facing problems complying with ground-level ozone standards, she said.
