A transit solution: Raise the gas tax

By Chuck Shiflett

As a child growing up in Georgia in the 1960s and ’70s it was always easy to tell whenever we crossed the line into any of our five neighboring states due to the superior quality of Georgia’s roads and highways compared to that of our neighbors.

A quick check of history will reveal that the Georgia Department of Transportation has received many national awards for its work over the years.

Now we Georgians find ourselves 49th in the nation in per capita spending on transportation. And it shows.

Transportation experts estimate that Georgia needs tens of billions of dollars in new funding in coming years just to get us back to where we need to be.

While it is true that for the past several years our governor and Legislature have failed to pass a plan to address transportation funding, we really only have ourselves to blame.

In today’s political environment, no elected official would dare risk the wrath of the voters by passing any legislation that could even remotely be construed as a tax increase.

Almost every transportation proposal floated involves either paying for projects with tolls or by giving voters the option of taxing themselves through either a statewide or regional sales tax referendum, thus giving our leaders some political cover.

There’s a dirty little secret about Georgia’s needed transportation improvements.

A new mile of roadway costs the same whether paid for by tolls, sales taxes or the gasoline tax.

Instead of creating new layers of government to handle collections from additional tollways or confusing regional sales tax plans, the simplest answer would be to raise Georgia’s gasoline tax.

However, that brings us back to the issue of a public ready to skewer any politician advocating a tax increase.

Here’s an idea that would give our elected officials that political cover they desire.

Calculate what a 10-cent-per-gallon increase in the state gasoline tax would generate over a 10-year period.

Provide voters a list of transportation projects that would be funded with those dollars and then place the measure, much like a SPLOST, on a statewide ballot.

After 10 years the tax increase would sunset. Those who use the roads would foot the bill.

History has shown us that whenever government taxes something, we get less of that something.

A statewide or regional transportation sales tax would suppress retail sales, especially of bigger-ticket items like furniture and cars.

This is not something we want as we try to recover from a major recession.

Toll roads also raise other concerns. Our highways are the great equalizer. Whether you drive a rust bucket or a luxury sports car, you are free to drive almost anywhere you want.

By utilizing tolls, our roadways become segregated into rich and poor. This is especially true of concepts such as congestion pricing or HOT lanes.

As a conservative I despise taxes as much as anyone.

However, each day that passes without adequate transportation funding places us further behind our neighboring states and is crippling our ability to attract new businesses.

It’s also ruining the quality of life for families spending far too much time stuck in traffic.

Unless we act now, I foresee a day when my future grandchildren will say that it’s easy to tell when you cross the state line back into Georgia, because our neighbor’s roadways are superior.

Chuck Shiflett is a former chairman of the Bartow County Board of Education and former communications director of the Georgia Republican Party.