Tax increases small price to pay for roads needing repair

The Iowa Legislature should consider the bipartisan recommendations of Gov. Terry Branstad's Transportation 2020 Commission regarding highway funding. Those recommendations include increasing the state's gas tax and the fee for purchase on vehicles to help fund the additional $215 million per year needed to meet highway and bridge needs.

Iowa's roads are funded by user fees: gas taxes, registration fees, licenses, etc. More than 95 percent of those revenues are constitutionally protected. They can only go for the purposes for which they are collected; construction and maintenance of Iowa's roads. The average driver will pay less than $50 a year more with the suggested increases. This is a small amount to pay for our roads and bridges.

Consider:

1. Iowa has not raised the gas tax since 1989, while just between 2004 and 2008, the construction costs grew by

67 percent.

2. Iowa's roadway conditions rank in the bottom 25 percent of states in rural interstate, bottom 15 percent in urban interstate, bottom 10 percent in rural arterial and third worst in the nation in structurally deficient bridges.

3. During the last 20 years, total travel in Iowa has increased 36 percent, with large truck travel increasing 42 percent.

4. Meanwhile, better fuel efficiency has diminished the ability of gas taxes to generate revenues.

If Iowans want better roads and are willing to pay for it, they should urge their legislator to support the Transportation 2020 Commission's recommendations.

DeWayne Heintz

Cedar Rapids