Minnesota Legislature / ‘Hefty’ tab assured in Senate DFL roads bill

03/16/2007

Up to $580 in new taxes, fees could hit families


BY DENNIS LIEN
Pioneer Press


Motorists would open their wallets a lot more often if a huge Senate transportation finance bill ever became law.

For starters, they'd pay an extra 10 cents a gallon in gasoline taxes at the pump. Metro-area residents could see a half-cent increase in the sales tax. Then, there'd be increased fees for license plates, vehicle titles and driver's licenses. And an optional county-imposed vehicle tax — $5 now — could go to $20.

The annual tab for a typical family? Anywhere from $190 to $580, depending on how you calculate it. How much would it raise? How about $1.1 billion more a year by 2012?

If all those numbers seem a bit daunting, well, they are. And the senators who sent the bill out of the Transportation Budget and Policy Division on Thursday know it.

"It's a hefty bill,'' said the omnibus bill's sponsor, Sen. Steve Murphy, DFL-Red Wing, the committee chairman.

But Murphy and his Democratic-Farmer-Labor colleagues believe Minnesotans are willing to pay the price if it cuts traffic congestion; leads to better, safer roads; and improves public transportation options.

Not that the senators believe it's even close to a done deal. For starters, their House colleagues are fashioning a less expensive bill. And Gov. Tim Pawlenty has said he'll veto any bill that contains a tax increase.

But those fights are for another day.

On Thursday, the transportation funding package, described by Sen. Dick Day, R-Owatonna, as a "pig'' and a "bill on steroids,'' muscled its way out of its first committee and on to a Monday date in the Finance Committee.

For Murphy, the need, the demand and the timing are clear. Minnesota's roads are in bad shape and getting worse. Moreover, he said, the public knows it and wants fixes because drivers are getting tired of sitting in traffic jams, eating up time, money and gas.

Of all the taxes and fees in the bill, three are likely to garner considerable attention as the bill continues on its path to the Senate floor:

• The gasoline tax, dedicated to highway uses, would rise from 20 cents a gallon to 30 cents a gallon, generating $320 million more a year. Minnesota hasn't increased the tax since 1988 and is one of only five states to go that long without a bump.

• Seven metro counties — Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott and Washington — could agree to increase the sales tax on retail sales by 0.5 percent and direct that money toward transportation. No less than 40 percent of it would go to transit, no less than 30 percent for trunk highway and local roads, and no more than 5 percent for pedestrian and bicycle programs. A month ago, a dozen metro-area mayors lent their support to such an effort.

• It also would remove caps on vehicle registration taxes passed during the Ventura administration. The increase would apply only to vehicles bought after the law took effect.

After the 11-7 party-line vote, Murphy said, "This is the best thing that's happened to road spending in Minnesota since the advent of the automobile.''