Alabama Governor Endorses Fuel-Tax Hike, Predicts it Will Pass in 2016
In a Nov. 6 speech in Gulf Shores, Bentley said, “I do think the gasoline tax is one tax that will certainly be strongly looked at, and I think it will be passed. People in this state want good bridges. It will come up in the next session [which begins on Jan. 12], and there is a reasonably good chance it will pass, and I'm for it."
Alabama’s House Transportation, Utilities and Infrastructure Committee passed a 5-cents-per-gallon increase in September that would have produced about $150 million in fiscal 2016 for highways and bridges. However, the bill didn’t make it through the full House.
"I think the people of the state understand if we are going to have new and better roads, we have to pay for them," Bentley told reporters after his speech. “We are paying less tax now than 20 years ago.”
Alabama fuel prices are the lowest they’ve been since 2004. The state hasn’t raised fuel taxes in 23 years.
Given the state’s infrastructure needs, Alabama Trucking Association President Frank Filgo said his group will support legislation that would call for the same nickel increase next year followed by hikes of 3 cents per gallon in both 2018 and 2019.
“That would bring us in line with Georgia, North Carolina and Florida,” Filgo said. “We have bottlenecks on I-65 and I-10 that have needed to be fixed for years.”
