TUCSON, Ariz — Even with gas prices easing down they are still high compared to a year ago. Gas tax is part of what you pay for a gas-up, but higher gas prices do not equal more money for better roads.
Gas taxes raise money to help fix the roads so it’s easy to think when gas prices go up, gas tax income goes up too but it just doesn’t work that way.
Gas tax is not like sales tax where the more you pay, the more tax you shell out. That’s because gas tax is not a percentage of your purchase, it’s a flat 18 cents per gallon for state and local gas tax and another 18 cents for Federal. Drivers we asked have the feeling more money should go to the roads but who really wants to pay more?
Presley Motes says, “You understand things have to be paid for at some extent but no one wants to pay out of their own pocket, especially when fuel is this high already.”
Kathryn Skinner, Pima County’s interim transportation director says the state hasn’t raised that per gallon tax since 1990 and with years of inflation, 18 cents per gallon doesn't fix as many streets as it did 32 years ago.
Skinner says gas tax income is still growing because population growth puts more cars on the road. And while better gas mileage is a good thing, a high mileage car still uses the road but contributes less to maintaining that road.
She says, “Generally it still goes up, but it's not going up at the same rate it would if we were still driving cars that were 12 miles per gallon. So we definitely don't have the same amount of buying power as we would and you know, we're not making as much as 1991 figures as you would have thought we would with the number of people that live in the state now and the number of miles traveled.”
Skinner says in the Great Recession of 2008 Arizona lawmakers reduced the amount of gas tax they shared with local government and used gas tax to help balance the state budget. The county’s been adjusting its budget in other ways to supplement gas tax and dig out of the maintenance backlog.
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Craig Smith is a reporter for KGUN 9. With more than 40 years of reporting in cities like Tampa, Houston and Austin, Craig has covered more than 40 Space Shuttle launches and covered historic hurricanes like Katrina, Ivan, Andrew and Hugo. Share your story ideas and important issues with Craig by emailing craig.smith@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook and Twitter.
