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Political Potholes: Raising Taxes for Roads

Louisiana’s $1.6-billion budget hole is doing nothing to help with the state’s $14-billion backlog of road and bridge projects.

“We kicked the can down the road, but we lost it in a pothole. And we can’t get the can out,” says House Transportation chair Karen St. Germain.

So she offered two tax-raising measures to solve the problem. One,HB778, increases the state’s sales tax by a penny. The other,HB777, ups the tax on fuel, gasoline and diesel, by ten cents per gallon.

“We are out of options, and this is the only way we will see new infrastructure in the state of Louisiana,” St. Germain told the House Ways and Means committee Tuesday, while presenting her bills.

The extra penny of sales tax raises $800-million annually for ten years, and would be directed toward building and widening roads and bridges for incoming economic development projects.

“This state sits on the cusp of in-excess of $150-billion dollars’ worth of industrial expansion,” stated Ken Naquin, CEO of Associated General Contractors, who spoke in support of both bills. He also said Louisiana could lose some or all of those projects and jobs.

“Texas is actively seeking all of our plant expansions, because they have the infrastructure,” Naquin warned.

St. Germain said she has met with executives from businesses looking to expand in Louisiana, trying to explain to them why the red carpet for their arrival wouldn’t be rolled out on new roads to their facility.

“What the hell? You don’t have a road to get here? What do you mean you don’t have a bridge to get here?” she said they responded, followed by saying, “I can’t come.”

As for the dime-per-gallon increase in the gasoline tax, Naquin said DOTD has advised him that without it, they’ll have to leave federal highway dollars unclaimed.

“They do not have enough state money to match federal funds,” Naquin advised.

The Ways and Means committee advanced both bills to the House floor despite objections from the governor’s office. Several committee members thanked St. Germain for her “courage”.

She is term-limited, and says she is fully aware that neither tax hike fits within Governor Jindal’s edicts against any measure that could be viewed as a tax increase, however

“Red, blue, green, purple states are doing revenue increases -- even some led by Republican governors -- not stealing from someone else.”

Copyright 2021 WRKF. To see more, visit WRKF.

Sue Lincoln is a veteran reporter in the political arena. Her radio experience began in the early ’80s, in “the other L-A” — Los Angeles.

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