Post by Logan on Jan 21, 2016 0:59:27 GMT -6
A measure that would finance improvements to Indiana’s crumbling infrastructure by raising cigarette and gasoline taxes was approved by a House transportation committee Wednesday, offering a long-term alternative to the governor’s proposed short-term highway funding plan that does not call for more taxes.
The measure by Rep. Ed Soliday, a Valparaiso Republican who chairs the House Roads and Transportation Committee, was approved on an 8-5 vote, with Democrats on the committee and one GOP member voting against it.
Soliday said the plan, which is backed by House GOP leaders, offers a sustainable solution to a problem many states across the U.S. are grappling with — raising Indiana’s cigarette tax by $1 a pack while tacking 4 cents onto the state’s 18 cents-a-gallon gas tax.
It also would redirect a portion of the state’s gasoline tax that lawmakers currently spend on other priorities to infrastructure projects. And it would give municipalities with a population greater than 20,000 the authority to raise their own vehicle registration taxes to help pay for local improvements.
Continued at www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2016/01/20/house-panel-accepts-road-funding-bill-tax-increase/79096946/ .
The measure by Rep. Ed Soliday, a Valparaiso Republican who chairs the House Roads and Transportation Committee, was approved on an 8-5 vote, with Democrats on the committee and one GOP member voting against it.
Soliday said the plan, which is backed by House GOP leaders, offers a sustainable solution to a problem many states across the U.S. are grappling with — raising Indiana’s cigarette tax by $1 a pack while tacking 4 cents onto the state’s 18 cents-a-gallon gas tax.
It also would redirect a portion of the state’s gasoline tax that lawmakers currently spend on other priorities to infrastructure projects. And it would give municipalities with a population greater than 20,000 the authority to raise their own vehicle registration taxes to help pay for local improvements.
Continued at www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2016/01/20/house-panel-accepts-road-funding-bill-tax-increase/79096946/ .