Should Pennsylvanians expect higher gas taxes to be rolling in?
Gas prices have stayed low and those caged SUVs are back dominating the roads, but a recommended 11.5 cent gas tax increase might send them back into hiding.
The recommendation came from The Transportation Funding and Reform Commission (TFRC), a commission started by Gov. Ed Rendell about 16 months ago to make a report about financial issues facing PA transit.
By Stephan Puff,
Senior Staff Writer
Should Pennsylvanians expect higher gas taxes to be rolling in?
Gas prices have stayed low and those caged SUVs are back dominating the roads, but a recommended 11.5 cent gas tax increase might send them back into hiding.
The recommendation came from The Transportation Funding and Reform Commission (TFRC), a commission started by Gov. Ed Rendell about 16 months ago to make a report about financial issues facing PA transit.
Be at ease because legislation for raising the tax won’tstart immediately. Simply because the report suggests raising gas taxes doesn’tmean that Rendell will lay forth such a high tax.
An 11 cent tax raise would rank Pa. as the second highest gas tax in the USA, only trailing New York.
Since gas has stayed down at around $2.19 per gallon, I don’tthink I�d complain if it was at $2.30, but it�ll eventually climb back to penny-pinching prices, and I�ll be wishing we thought of other ways to fix the transit funding.
Headlines like �Gas tax attack,� from the Tribune-Review are only for selling papers, but in truth the TFRC’s report also has other ideas for gathering finances.
The most credible of these ideas is their recommendation for public-private partnership to drive down costs.
The Pennsylvania Transit Authority (PennDot) has been overzealously guarding work for public transit workers, but this has ignored the necessity for private bidding, which competitively alleviates the high prices of only relying on one company.
Using private companies is a great solution for energizing slow and inefficient public programs.
Also, it pushes the innovation of industries. In the case of the Pa. transit, partial privatization will cut costs by cleaning up inefficient public transit routes, bridges, and road repair.
The report suggests full privatization isn’tnecessary. They say preemptive road maintenance will prevent major construction and excessive delays.
More regular maintenance will require a bigger workforce, another necessity for the public-private partnership, as public alone would have to increase its workforce.
A root issue the report cites as problematic is the 27 PennDot staff members responsible for an $845 million budget. With a small staff, they are not fully auditing actual budget spending in comparison to work efficiency.
Virginia has 32 staff members responsible for a $250 million program. That is more workers for a budget only one-third the size of Pa.’s budget. TFRC believes this has caused a lack of coordination between budgeting and needs.
The report has more than a suggested gas tax and lays forth many recommendations.
A big concern is that this doesn’tturn into a partisan battle of Republicans saying �Democrats always raise taxes.� The TFRC is neither Democrat nor Republican. Like social security, Pa. transit finances are a problem facing us now.
The report was written to put solutions on the table. Not all of these solutions will likely to be agreed on, but representatives both republican and Democrat have said they agree with reforms proposed in the report.
I can’tcomplain when 20 dollars almost fills my tank, but paying a middle-ground five to six cents extra for a gallon of gas is worth safer roads and faster transit services.
The report can be found online in PDF form here.
Or it can be viewed in a web browser by typing in �The Transportation Funding and Reform Commission.�
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