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Time for action

3 min read

Transportation issue must be dealt with

Over the last decade, the options to pay for Pennsylvania’s neglected highway and bridge repairs and construction — a bill of $3.6 billion more a year, according to a recent study — have fallen into a few categories:

1. Lease the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

2. Place tolls on Interstate 80.

3. Raise the gasoline tax.

4. Do nothing — and keep using baling twine to fend off the first big bridge collapse.

The first two ideas had their billboard moments in Harrisburg. Then the Legislature ruled out leasing the turnpike. The federal government then turned down plans to put toll booths on I-80.

The Legislature and Gov. “no-new-tax-no-way-no-how-not-ever” Corbett are loathe to touch the gasoline tax.

So we’re left with option 4. Which really isn’t an option, unless you think that a Third World transportation system is the way to attract new investment and people to the Keystone State.

Corbett is keen on tossing the state’s biggest challenges to task forces. His latest, the Transportation Funding Advisory Commission, has come up with a plan to raise an additional $2.7 billion a year.

Before this proposal is rejected out of hand, all Pennsylvanians and their elected representatives must realize that maintaining the status quo, making timeworn jokes about PennDOT workers and posting pothole photos on the web don’t constitute a transportation funding strategy. Something has to give.

Last week the commission made these recommendations to Corbett:

n Get rid of the cap on the wholesale fuel tax charged to oil companies.

n Raise the driver’s license fee from $29.50 for a four-year license to $69 for an eight-year license.

n Raise the vehicle registration from $36 for one year to $98 for a two-year registration. Both the license and registration fees would be subject to 3 percent increases each year.

n Reduce the number of driver’s license centers and privatize driving tests.

nDedicate 2 percent of state sales tax revenue for mass transportation.

State officials say these changes work out to $130 more a year for the average driver/owner.

Doubling the driver’s license and vehicle registration periods is one way to soft-pedal an increase in fees, but it also would be more convenient and cut down on paperwork.

The overriding question is whether Corbett would consent to lifting the cap on the wholesale gas tax — which, no matter how you frame it, constitutes a tax hike that would show up in higher prices at the pump.

The Legislature will have plenty on its plate when it returns in September — redistricting, school vouchers, impact fees for natural gas drilling, privatizing the liquor system. But transportation funding — given the ever-worsening reports on deteriorating roads and bridges — can’t be put off for another year or election cycle. It’s time to get this done.

The (Easton) Express Times

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