Nov 24 2008
Gas Tax Cap Affecting Transportation Dept Revenue
When the Legislature capped North Carolina’s gasoline tax in 2006, it gave politicians something to crow about at election time to show they cared about voters’ pain at the pump.
While motorists currently save about a nickel for each gallon they buy because of the cap, its loss for the state Transportation Department is much greater: $600 million.
Lawmakers returning to Raleigh in January must decide whether to let the cap expire or extend it and find money elsewhere to pay for road construction and repair. There’s an estimated $65 billion gap between transportation revenues and needs in North Carolina through 2030, the Department of Transportation has said.
“Politically to some it would be better not to touch” the cap, said Rep. Becky Carney, D-Mecklenburg, a member of a blue-ribbon transportation funding committee meeting last week. “But there’s no money. We’re going to have to find it somewhere and it’s going to have to be in the form of a tax or fee.”
They could save $159 million off the bat by eliminating all of their pork barrel spending they authorized: the oyster hatchery money, the Wine and Grape Growers Council money, the polar bear exhibit renovations at the North Carolina Zoo.
[...] more corrupt kickbacks before their bags are packed. While NCDOT has reported in recent days that it’s struggling with transportation funding because of a cap on the gas tax, they apparently have plenty of money to dole out close to $300 [...]