Is it time to raise Iowa's gas tax?

One by one, the lobbyists stepped up to the lectern in the Marriot Courtyard conference room in Ankeny and told a state advisory panel that it was time to raise Iowa's fuel tax.

Yes, they acknowledged, there could be other ways to raise the estimated $215 million a year for road repair. But, to a person, they said raising the fuel tax was the best route to take.

“At least eight cents a gallon,” said Scott New-hard, executive vice president with the Associated General Contractors of Iowa.

Newhard, a former legislator, was the only lobbyist to put a specific amount on a proposal. The rest - representatives for bankers, corn producers, truckers and developers, among others - said the panel would have or likely get support from their membership if it proposed a fuel tax increase during the next legislative session.

The active support of the measure was a more aggressive stance than the one offered by a collection of municipal and county officials who also attended the four-hour-plus meeting late last week. Those folks, for the most part, explained why the money they're receiving now isn't enough to cover their needs.

“Shuffling the chairs on the Titanic is not a good solution,” said Des Moines Public Works Director Bill Stowe, who argued that cities need more money, not just a redistribution of what they're already getting.

On the receiving end of the various pitches were members of the Governor's Transportation 2020 Citizen Advisory Commission. The 12-person panel with four ex officio lawmakers has been assigned to gather information about the state's future transportation needs and make recommendations on how best to pay for them.

Starting next month, the panel takes its show on the road for town hall meetings in Des Moines, Davenport, Storm Lake, Council Bluffs, Mason City and Waterloo. Dates and times have not been set, but the group wants to be finished with the town halls by fall.

“I don't think you can say that we've decided on any one course,” said commission Co-Chairwoman Nancy Richardson, former director of the Iowa Department of Transportation. “I think you can say that of all the options that are out there, (last week's speakers) certainly favored an increase in the fuel tax, and it would be hard to see how we could raise the money without some portion of it coming from a fuel tax increase.”

Not including other state taxes and fees, such as sales taxes, Iowa levies taxes of 21 cents on a gallon of gasoline, 22.5 cents on a gallon of diesel and 19 cents on a gallon of gas-ethanol blend.

Every one-cent-per-gallon increase, according to information collected by the commission, would generate an additional $21 million a year. So to reach the goal of $215 million a year, a gas tax increase would have to involve multiple cents or be combined with other increases, such as raising vehicle registration fees or charging heavy trucks more for being on the road than lighter vehicles.

“I think this could be difficult to sell,” said Rep. Jim Lykam, D-Davenport, one of the ex officio members of the panel and the ranking Democrat on the House Transportation Committee.

“We need to get everybody who was here on board, because if you don't have strong

support from the public, well, it will be very difficult to get 51 votes in the House and 26 in the Senate during a reapportionment year,” he said.