Deseret News | Automatic gas-tax hike tax isn't way to go

Automatic gas-tax hike tax isn't way to go

Deseret Morning News editorial

Published: Sunday, Jan. 27, 2008 12:13 a.m. MST

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Utah needs to raise the gasoline tax. The state has tens of billions of dollars in transportation needs between now and 2030, and it will need a combination of gas taxes, bonding and other sources of money to meet these needs and keep up with growth.

But lawmakers should resist setting up a mechanism by which gas taxes rise automatically every two years based on increases in the cost of living. Automatic tax hikes are not good governance. Rather, they insulate politicians from having to make difficult decisions and from being accountable.

A bill sponsored by Rep. Wayne Harper, R-West Jordan, would tie the state's gas tax to the cost of living. The two-year increase would be slight but steady. For instance, a 6 percent increase in the cost of living over two years would translate into a half-cent higher tax per gallon of gas, according to current rates. But the effects of such a hike would be equally small, bringing in about $5.5 million more per year. Compare that to the billions it will take to build the Mountain View Corridor and the Legacy Parkway.

The lack of a tax hike has led to the use of other state funds for highway purposes. This doesn't present the philosophical problem some would suggest. Highways impact all segments of the economy. But gasoline taxes do tie the primary users of highways most closely to the costs of providing those highways.

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We understand the kind of frustration that can make automatic tax increases attractive. Utah hasn't raised its gas tax since 1997, despite a population growth rate that ranks among the highest in the nation. And yet, while projects and repairs pile up, the cost of gasoline itself has skyrocketed, cementing public opinion against anything that would raise that cost even higher. A recent opinion poll for this newspaper and KSL-TV by Dan Jones & Associates found that 70 percent do not want the gas tax raised.

This is a prime example of why representative democracy, and not direct democracy, is the best form of government. The people elect representatives to make difficult and informed decisions. We suspect many of the 70 percent who would reject gas taxes also will complain loudly when traffic slows to a crawl or when getting to new neighborhoods requires them to navigate a maze of crowded surface streets.

This is an election year. Gas taxes, toll roads and other effective funding mechanisms won't win votes, especially when the roads they fund won't be built for several years. But leadership requires difficult decisions. As attractive as it may seem, those decisions should not be reduced to a formula that automatically raises taxes every two years independent of an important public process.

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Automatic gas-tax hike tax isn't way to go

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