Sen. Tom says he would support gas tax increase
OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) - Washington State Senate Majority Leader Rodney Tom said Tuesday that he would support an increase in the state's gas tax to fund road projects.
Tom told The Associated Press that voters are more comfortable with tax hikes closely linked to upgrading important government services that cannot easily be provided by private industry.
"If you want new roads you pay for new roads," he said. "There's a direct nexus there."
Tom, D-Medina, who is now majority leader of a new "majority coalition" caucus of consisting of two Democrats and 23 Republicans, is a proponent of fiscal restraint and limited taxes.
However, he singled out transportation and education as two areas that "we need to focus on and do them in a manner of excellence."
Tom notes that he voted for both the five-cent gas tax passed in 2003 and the 9.5 cent gas tax increase approved in 2005.
Among the large road projects standing to benefit from increased transportation funding are the Columbia River Crossing connecting Interstate 5 between Vancouver to Portland, the North Spokane Corridor project and the 520 floating bridge connecting Seattle to Bellevue.
Tom also said he will work to increase funding for education. Unlike with transportation funding, he said, he will seek to pay for such increases by cutting other government spending.
"The education budget currently is under $14 billion," he said. "We have $32.2 billion dollars to spend. Fourteen is less than 32."
Tom told The Associated Press that voters are more comfortable with tax hikes closely linked to upgrading important government services that cannot easily be provided by private industry.
"If you want new roads you pay for new roads," he said. "There's a direct nexus there."
Tom, D-Medina, who is now majority leader of a new "majority coalition" caucus of consisting of two Democrats and 23 Republicans, is a proponent of fiscal restraint and limited taxes.
However, he singled out transportation and education as two areas that "we need to focus on and do them in a manner of excellence."
Tom notes that he voted for both the five-cent gas tax passed in 2003 and the 9.5 cent gas tax increase approved in 2005.
Among the large road projects standing to benefit from increased transportation funding are the Columbia River Crossing connecting Interstate 5 between Vancouver to Portland, the North Spokane Corridor project and the 520 floating bridge connecting Seattle to Bellevue.
Tom also said he will work to increase funding for education. Unlike with transportation funding, he said, he will seek to pay for such increases by cutting other government spending.
"The education budget currently is under $14 billion," he said. "We have $32.2 billion dollars to spend. Fourteen is less than 32."
It's not so much the fact that we need more taxing to pay for things, we need to cut back on the frivelous spending that Gargoyle was doing for 8 years! Just like the Whitehouse needs to cut back, if they just cut back they will find they have plenty of money to go around without picking our pockets further! Just my opinion folks.
Senator Tom: $30 bicycle licenses With plates and tabs. Renewed annually. Â $50 per studded tire when sold.
 @rockguy $100 per studded tire is closer to the damage they do. 99% of the people that run studs DO NOT NEED THEM!
 @slappywag I agree, and $100 is still way low. By putting a fee on studded tires, maybe most of the 99% that don't need them will quit buying them.
Last week a story ran about making drivers "pay by the mil"e - and all hell broke loose here from those opposed to it.
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The problemswith roads funding for both maintenance & new construction began with timmy's promise of $35 car tabs for everybody. We all know how well THAT has worked out. The costs for new construction & maintenance USED to be paid out of the excise taxes & tabs fees. Now, local governments & taxing entities are "tagging on" additional fees to those $35 tabs - and the rates jusst keep going up. So much for $35 license tabs.
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Here is my suggestion:Â Get rid of the gas tax as it now stands, and impliment the following system.
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Make 5 basic "classes" of vehicle: (1) Passenger car (2) small truck/small SUV (3) full-size truck.full-size SUV (4) Commercial trucks (5) For Hire vehicles. With classes 4 & 5, have sub-catagoies - such as GVW for commerical trucks, and classifications the same as 1-3 for for hire vehicles.
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Then, every year in order to get your tabs you have to have your odometer read. You "pay by the mile", based on the number of miles you actually drive & the amount of "wear & tear" your particular vehicle does to the roads.
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A little old lady driving a 27 year old Chevy Nova to church once a week, the grocery store every 10 days, and the doctor every 3 months is not going to do NEARLY the damage that someone driving a F350 as a "commuter vehicle" from Auburn to Seattle 5 days a week.
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Also, add an extra fee for studs - studded tires are one of the MOST damaging things driving on the roads, and are practically NEVER needed - yet they are allowed to be mounted 6 months of the year.
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I do not mind paying for "what I use" - the amount I actually drive & the amount of wear & tear to the roads my vehicle actually does. But as the system currently stands those trying to do the right thing - carpooling, limiting trips, driving hybrids, and other such measures are basically supplementing those who do NOTHING to minimize their "road footprint".
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I know you will most likely post numerous nasty vitrupitive comments about this, about how it isn't "fair", that you should not have to pay per mile & pay a gas tax. I would urge you to re-read my comment - I suggested this IN PLACE OF the gas tax, back towards the top where I said "get rid of the gas tax as it now stands".
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Obviously what we are doing is not working at all - we need to try a completely new & different approach.
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@LocalLady  "Obviously what we are doing is not working at all - we need to try a completely new & different approach."How about cutting spending back by not sleeping with the unions to start with as a different approach?
 @LocalLady Oops, I just killed your plan. My odometer cable came loose.
 @slappywag:Â
Since "resetting" odometers is already illegal, and if something along the lines of what I suggested were to be adopted, "accidently" disconnecting your odometer would be a criminal act & have a punishment ayttached.
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Are you really so cheap you would refuse to pay your "fair share" for roads & highways?
 @LocalLady We already pay our "FAIR" share through the gas tax and onerous add-ons to our vehicle registration. What the  "Hon." Rodney Tom is proposing is NOT fair and simply exhibits his "snatch and grab" attitude about taxation, instead of, like us, having to make do with what he has.
 @LocalLady So you would tax us for, say, a road trip to Florida based on our odometer readings? How do out-of-state miles impact our road wear? You would NOT tax tourists with out-of-state registration. How does that repair our roads? You would not tax semi drivers registered in other states. DO explain to me just how that is going to repair our roads.
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How about we designate all gas tax revenue be spent wisely, and not for car-filled sewers along the waterfront? How about we cut out spending for leaky bridge pontoons? How about we stop wasting money to lay sidewalks, jackhammer them apart and re lay them THREE times? How about we stop spending money on "studies" that net us nothing? Maybe we should stop wasting money on bike lanes and bike "pockets" and prioritize our spending on road repair and maintenance.
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Bicycles use the roads. Make them pay for a license and require it to be prominently displayed so when they run traffic lights we have a way to report them to the police.
 @glassman:Â
So what are YOUR suggestions?Â
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I at least put one forward, imperfect sa it may be. It could be a starting point of discussion. I never said it was a perfect plan, I simply pointed out that it would be more equitable so that those using the roads more pay more than those who drive barely 25 miles a month & none on the freeway.
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Go ahead - I'm waiting.
 @LocalLady I already made a number of suggestions in my post, but inasmuch as you are having trouble with reading comprehension, allow me to clarify:
 1) designate all gas tax revenue be spent wisely
2)Â cut out spending for leaky bridge pontoons
3)Â stop wasting money to lay sidewalks, jackhammer them apart and re lay them THREE times (And a myriad of other wasteful practices)
4)Â stop spending money on "studies" that net us nothing
5) stop wasting money on bike lanes and bike "pockets" and prioritize our spending on road repair and maintenance
6)Bicycles use the roads. Make them pay for a license
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OK?
@LocalLady Your plan has some merit but I wouldn't totally do away with the gas tax. The problem is out of state drivers would pay nothing to help with our roads. I do agree that we need to spend more money to jump start our road repairs after years of falling behind because people said we couldn't afford it even in good times. Now we are paying the price of our penny wise pound foolish mentality.
This state is corrupt at it's core. Their motto is "change you don't believe in, but who cares, we make the laws". I guess you can't expect much more. After all, it is modeled after the US Government.
No problem. Just don't take any mass transit money out of our gas taxes. Let the riders pay for their buses.
@Iconoclast Oh don't get me started there!
And extra lanes
We are already one of the top ten states in gas taxes. NY has the highest at number one, we are number nine of the top ten. Â Guess Tom wants us to be number one!
They do this every 5 years, we keep adding gas taxes and then they forget about them and say we need money for roads again. And each time they say if they get this money it will be enough to finish all the projects and will fund everything for 20 years.
@SkaBob  Oh, we don't get anything new and improved for the tax increases, they just keep increasing our gas tax to keep up with the demand from the unions pay, pensions and healthcare.
He doesn't mind a new gas tax because he gets his paid for by the taxpayers. Â
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We already have the highest gas tax in the nation and Olympia just wants more.
I agree with JeepRex, stop the spending on all the things we don't need like free handouts to illegals. Â It is time to put politicians in their place.
 @FBrumfield "He doesn't mind a new gas tax because he gets his paid for by the taxpayers."
Care to explain that statement?
"If you want new roads you pay for new roads."....... So if I DON'T want new roads can I opt out?
The biggest issue is not the income of money, but the unnecessary spending. Cut funding to illegal alien programs, welfare, etc would be a good start. Too much money going out. When you and I run out of money, we stop spending. Those in Olympia need a reality check.
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 @newdragon:Â
Noit just boycott them, they need to be punished and/or shut down. If they hired 17 illegals, and all those illegals were receiving any kind of tax-funded services, make the employer legally responsible for paying back every penny of what was spent to the state. The employer was profitting from it - take the profit motive away, let them kinow what will happen if they hire illegals, see how many employers would then be willing to skirt the laws.
Why don't these fools ever support raising taxes on politicians? The Politician Tax!
 @TheSkyIsFalling We could tax them at 10¢ a word and balance the budget.
I thought the last 3 or 4 times they raised the gas tax that it was supposed to take care of these road issues?
 @sometimesright Their memory isnt that long
A Democrat. From Medina. Enough said.
For a while there I thought I was doing pretty good. Maybe I wasn't putting money in savings out of every pay check, but I was saving. Then I was breaking even. Now..........Turn the hot water heater off, turn the heat down, PBJ's for dinner. Or rice. Rice is good.
 @SargeMcC Don't forget good ol' Ramen.
EFF YOU Rodney Tom!!! I will fight any gas increase that you support! Washington State has wasted MILLIONS upon MILLIONS of taxpayers dollars and I'll be damned if you get anymore of my money for you to waste!
 @Tattooed_Angel Try billions upon billions...
amen
A Democrat from King county that does not support a tax incress would make a storie....
I am guessing he has never seen a tax increase he didn't like
"If you want new roads you pay for new roads," he said. "There's a direct nexus there."
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Wrong, you pay for them twice. Once in fuel tax, and then again with tolls and fees on vehicle registration/licensing.
Pay for it with with equal across the board cuts in political and state worker compensation. Then I'd be more willing to believe they wouldn't just squander it again.
 @brewzbrothers State workers have already taken cuts of around 30% over the past couple of years. It's a bit unfair to single them out when they have nothing to say about taxes?
How is it that Olympia always seems to say "we'll use it for roads etc", but then a few years down the road, they need more?
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Olympia: What happened with the 5 cent tax you levied? And the second 9.5 cent tax? Did you not use that for roads either? What'd you use them on?
How come that when you do not live within your means, you can ask for (and get) a raise (more taxes) while Joe Public must tighten his and her belts? Summin's wrong here.
 @DrugFighter Gas consumption is going down, that is whats causing a gap in revenue.
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Well that, and the fact whenever the state starts a road project, its actually 5 projects that aren't fully funded to begin with.
 @Dredd57 Good point. Still, it seems it's soooooo easy for them to just tax fuel more and more...
Gas prices FINALLY start going down, and lookie here.....some numbnutz Democrat in Olympia is supporting a new gas tax. In the words of Gomer Pyle....."Surprise, surprise, surpriiiiiise"
Why don't they repair the roads they already have before taking on new projects. Why haven't they budgeted money for regular road maintenance over the years. That should have always been a priority in any state budget to maintain what was already there. Sounds to me like all they want to do is raise the gas tax to cover more new projects. Seems to me we are just starting a new round of "pet projects" and somewhere down the road we will still be right where we are now, looking for money to pay the bills we already have.
Tom is a democrat. *DING*
@SoTweetie Rodney Tom is a Democrat in name only. http://blogs.seattletimes.com/politicsnorthwest/2013/01/14/state-gop-urges-support-for-democratic-sen-rodney-tom/
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Imagine that... A democrat that agrees with raising taxes.
Sweet Aunt Jemima! Add some more sweetener to that syrup.
Well first off, kudos to Senator Tom for at least striving for excellence. Unfortunately transportation and education in this State are so mis-managed and have such bloated funding I doubt very much excellence is in our future. The problem we have is that the way Government is run, unless we tear it down and start over, it cannot be fixed.
All the while, Virginia is looking to get rid of their gasoline tax.