The numbers tell the truth

05/01/2008

Pioneer Press
Article Last Updated: 04/29/2008 05:33:44 PM CDT


The average price of a gallon of regular gasoline in the Twin Cities on Tuesday was estimated at $3.45. That price includes a federal tax of 18.4 cents per gallon, unchanged since 1993, and a state tax of 22 cents per gallon. The state tax was increased 2 cents per gallon on April 1 as part of a blockbuster transportation-and-transit bill passed by the Legislature this year. It was the first state gas tax hike in 20 years.

The money from this state gas tax hike, and others to follow over the next four years, will be used to fund an aggressive road and bridge construction and repair effort. Revenue from state gas taxes is used for road and bridge work. The federal government sets aside a small portion of gas tax revenue for mass transit. The rest is for roads. Gasoline fuels our vehicles and puts them in motion. Gas taxes are user fees that pay for the roads we drive on.

Democratic-Farmer-Labor majorities in the Minnesota House supported the gas tax hike, as well as other increases, as necessary to improve and maintain our transportation and transit network. We agreed with them. The Republican governor, Tim Pawlenty, vetoed the bill, and the six Republican House members who helped override him have been subjected to political sanctions from their party.

Fine. That's politics. No one likes to pay higher taxes. But not even politicians get to make up their own facts.

A televised attack ad by the Minnesota House Republican Campaign Committee this week makes this statement: "Who's to blame for higher gas prices? It's the Democrats in the State Capitol.''

This is a rarity in political advertising: a provable falsehood. It is provably false to anyone who bothers to look at historical gasoline prices for Minnesota posted on the Web site of the U.S. Energy Information Administration at http://www.eia.doe.gov/.

Consider this past month.

The state gas tax rose 2 cents on April 1, as we said. From then until Tuesday, Minnesota gas prices had risen about 30 cents. If you assume that 2 cents of that increase is due to the state gas tax hike, that represents less than 7 percent of the increase over the past month.

Consider this past year.

From March 26, 2007, to March 31, 2008, the price increased about 67 cents per gallon. Amount of state and federal gas tax increase during the year: zero.

Consider the change during the administration of President Bush.

Between March 26, 2001, and March 31, 2008, the per-gallon cost to Minnesotans increased from $1.43 to $3.14. Amount of federal and state gas tax increase during that period: zero.

And finally, consider the last two decades. The average price per gallon in 1988 was about 95 cents. The average price at the end of March 2008 was $3.14. Amount of state gas tax increase during the period: zero. Amount of federal gas tax increase during the period: 9.3 cents per gallon.

The House Republican attack is intended to blame the tax for a more complicated and, perhaps, irresolvable issue, which is the spike in worldwide oil prices that is pinching us all - particularly suburban commuters, long-haul truckers and airlines. The experts point to the weak dollar and worldwide demand fueled by growth in China. Oil companies are raking it in, and Democrats occasionally yell at them without effect and often without cause. None of those factors decreases the need to fix potholes.

Blaming our 2-cents-worth for a global oil price spike amounts to a big, fat televised lie by the 49 Republican members of the Minnesota House. That's beneath the dignity of their commitment to fiscal restraint. And there's plenty to blame Democrats for without writing fiction.