Why doesn't Georgia just increase the gas tax (Atlanta, Savannah: sales, how much)

[readyset]

Georgia has one of the lowest (if not the lowest) gas taxes in the country.

Raising the corporate income tax, sales tax and personal income tax rates would be a really big mistake.

Raising the gas tax would bring millions and solve a lot of problems without being unfriendly to business and raising costs that would send the wrong message in a big way.

This would be the answer for a lot of states as well. I don't understand why its so politically difficult. Are they protecting certain industries? Helping Texas?

What are people going to do if they don't like it? Start using mass transit (isn't that what we want anyways)?

[jsimms3]

I agree. Our gas tax is too low...what is it $0.045 or $0.070 per gallon? It's a hair over $0.18 a gallon for the fed tax. Also, before SAFETEA-LU and several other 1990s and early 2000s transportation acts (FTA/FHWA) we were a heavy "donor" state whereby we were growing so fast and not receiving our fair share of federal funds (discretionary, grants, and otherwise). This problem still exists to a degree. Montana is a state that receives more in funding than it collects from fed gas taxes.

Not to mention in metro Atlanta if we are going to continue to grow at a comparable rate, we will need an estimated $169 BILLION in funding to maintain our current infrastructure and expand/build new to accomodate new growth. We have only sourced funding of $40 BILLION. These numbers are for the next 30 years, bear in mind, but it's a huge shortfall. Atlanta may not grow so fast once transportation really becomes an issue and roads can only service so much so efficiently and public transit will just have to happen (even if PTC and Cobb Counties are so adamantly against it).

[K-SawDude]

Agreed. But as long as the Georgia voting public keeps buying into the simplistic and short-sighted ideology that ALL TAXES = BAD, it's hard to do much of anything to remedy our revenue woes.

Here's a grown-up perspective: SOME TAXES ARE NECESSARY FOR MAINTENANCE OF OUR STATE. But from listening to any one of Nathan Deal's or, frankly, any number of ads this election cycle, you'd think Georgia's problems could all just be magically solved with a wave of the magic wand of tax reduction.

The GA gas tax and tobacco tax are too low relative to other states. And for the life of me I don't understand why they won't sell alcohol on Sundays. Easy, easy money there.

[cwkimbro]

The bad thing is that gas increase scare that happened before the recession really put a permanent grudge against any gas taxes in peoples minds. It is politically less likely to happen now than in it was several years ago.

What I hate is a large chunk of that regional transportation sales tax will end up being used for road projects that would be more efficiently paid by a gas tax. (People who use roads more pay more gas tax...people who use roads less...pay less tax)

Btw, I have seen estimates about the $169 billion transportation infrastructure. I really think we can do it on less, but we have to go big or go home.

I tend to believe if we had a fully regional system (like most of the options in Concept 3), we could change the mentality of where we live and where we commute enough that we wouldn't have to do every single little road capacity project in the suburban areas.

[cityrover]

sure they will raise it, and then raise all the other taxes regardless.

the simplistic minds of self serving people never cease to amaze.


fuel tax affects a lot more than people from this state. companies that operate in the state are also affected. but why bother explaining

[K-SawDude]

Originally Posted by cityrover

sure they will raise it, and then raise all the other taxes regardless.

the simplistic minds of self serving people never cease to amaze.

fuel tax affects a lot more than people from this state. companies that operate in the state are also affected. but why bother explaining

Maybe you should explain it?

It's clear to me that a gas tax raises *some* expenditure for businesses (added costs for transportation, for employees coming to work, etc.) But it also generates added revenue from motorists who don't live here but travel through on our highways. Plus, in the long term, an increase in gas prices actually helps reduce externalities like pollution, which have huge costs for the state but aren't seen in the immediate short term.

It's not a simple matter of "the state loses with a gas tax raise."

As for your other point: what in the world do you mean by "sure they will raise it, and then raise all the other taxes regardless"? A gas tax raise doesn't have anything necessarily to do with other tax increases.

[cwkimbro]

Rover -

Yes, taxes affect people. But, considering our gas tax is so low and it is the single best tax for funding the upkeep of our roads, since the people and businesses that use them the most will pay for them the most, lets raise the gas tax and stop the GDOT funding gridlock.

Also, I stand by my statement they are unlikely to raise. It wasn't long ago that they lowered it.

As much as people keep complaining about taxes going up...they really are only going down little by little.

[testa50]

The ridiculous part is that lots of people who are against a gas tax could easily benefit financially if one were implemented. An extra 5 minutes stuck in traffic on your way to work probably increases your cost of operating & maintenance of your car by about $.50-$1.00, and if you value your time at $20 hourly, that's another $1+ wasted right there. So we total about $1.50-$2.00 in wasted time and money per five minutes stuck in traffic.

Meanwhile, a $.03 extra gas tax on a 30-mile one-way commute in a regular car will add about a nickel to the cost of the commute. If the gas tax even took one measley minute off of the average one-way commute, it would still be a wash at worst. And there are so many spots where a somewhat simple project could save vastly more time than this daily (such as expanding I-20 EB to four lanes out to Panola Rd).

[jsimms3]

And don't forget the gas tax will benefit other transportation infrastructure: rail and road to serve our growing port. The gas tax is one of those taxes where it literally goes to one specific thing and actually ends up benefiting the general populace more than it costs. The only way it will cost us and be worthless is if all of the revenue generated goes to add more winding and sprawl servicing roads. This will likely not happen. Technically the tax revenue could go to help build the multi modal facility downtown or a multi modal rail facility to service rail freight in Savannah or here. Both of those projects would really benefit either the entire metro or the entire state.

[arjay57]

Even talking about increasing the gas tax is a political third rail in Georgia. Folks in this neck of the woods view cheap gas as a sacred right. We want to be able to drive really fast over long distances on roads that are "free."

Think about how much trouble Roy Barnes got into for taking the Confederate emblem off the state flag. Can you imagine what would happen to any politician who proposed raising the gas tax?