Gas tax talks stop before election

DES MOINES - State lawmakers are now home in their districts for the summer and, for most, their campaigns. In summers' past, that's meant a push for a fuel tax.

Not this year.

Efforts to raise taxes for the state's roads and bridges failed to make it to the floor for vote in the Iowa Legislature two years in a row.

For the past two years, advocates used the between-session time to build momentum for a fuel tax increase or some other way to infuse cash into a system that faces an annual backlog of $250 million in 'critical” road repairs.

In 2012, they testified in front of a blue-ribbon commission that ultimately recommended raising the gas tax by 8 to 10 cents per gallon. In 2013, top officials at the Iowa Department of Transportation worked out a list of options to a fuel tax increase and met with more than 50 interest groups to drum up support for their efforts.

This summer, however, most mentions of a fuel tax come in attack ads in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate, where front-runner Joni Ernst is being hit for a committee vote she took in favor of the tax.

She's responded by calling the vote 'a mistake.”

'The politics is our No. 1 barrier right now,” said Rep. Josh Byrnes, R-Osage, chairman of the Iowa House Transportation Committee and a vocal supporter of a tax increase to pay for the state's infrastructure needs.

'When I'm talking to people in the community, they say they see the need for this. A lot of my fellow legislators say it's needed. I don't know what more we need to do,” he said. 'I think, unfortunately, government is truly reactive, not proactive. I think there has to be some sort of road failure for something to happen.”

Not alone

Iowa is not alone in wrestling with covering road repair costs.

On Tuesday, Gov. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire signed a 4-cent fuel tax increase, the first in that state since 1991.

It's the only fuel tax bill that passed this year so far, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Last year, the group notes, six other states and the District of Columbia passed some type of tax increase to help pay for roads.

Iowa Department of Transportation Director Paul Trombino said that although none of his ideas from last summer's 'fuel tax alternatives” list made it into legislation this session, the work with legislators 'was a positive” because it kept the conversation going.

'I think people are really coalescing around the idea of a hybrid model,” he said. 'The thing that has hurt is we're having this conversation of ‘Why don't you like a tax?' not ‘Why is this important?'”

The so-called hybrid model would cut the state's per-gallon fuel tax but raise the tax on gasoline wholesalers. That cost likely would get passed on and result in higher prices at the pump, but lawmakers would get some political cover by not directly raising the gas tax.

'I struggle with (the gas tax),” said Jeff Kaufmann, a former state representative and newly elected member of the Republican State Central Committee.

The state GOP is in middle of considering party planks that would be voted on during its June convention. One under consideration says the party would not be opposed to an increase in the fuel tax in certain circumstances.

Former Republican Party of Iowa Chairman A.J. Spiker was a vocal critic of the fuel tax increase and sent out mailers critical of Republicans, such as Byrnes, who supported it. Spiker works for U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.

'I know there are good, strong conservatives who are in favor of a gas tax. I know good, strong conservatives who are absolutely opposed to a gas tax,” Kaufmann said.

'We're not in the business of telling someone that they're not a Republican because they support one thing or don't support another. It's not the role of the Central Committee or a certain leader to say, ‘You can't be a Republican' because you feel a certain way on an issue.”

Trombino said he has no plans to travel the state this summer like he did last year. Neither is he married to the idea of a fuel tax or hybrid tax increase to pay for the infrastructure shortfall.

He says a hybrid fuel tax increase would cover the state's needs for the next 10 to 15 years, but the state should be looking for a better way to pay for road repairs.

'There's been a subtle decline in vehicle miles traveled since our high point in 2004,” he said.

That year, Iowans logged 31.97 million road miles. In 2012, it was 31.5 million.

He said there has to be another way to pull money for road repairs by the people who use the roads most, but he sees the current vehicle miles traveled systems as 'too cumbersome” for Iowa.

'It's hard to predict what the next model will look like, but it has to be addressed,” he said.

Meanwhile, Byrnes said he'll continue to talk to people about the need for road money even at the cost of raising taxes.

'You know, maybe I'm wrong, and this is bad thing,” he said. 'Maybe they'll use it against me in my campaign, and I'll wake up the day after the election and find out I lost because of it. If that happens, then oh well, but I don't think I'm wrong on this.”