Legislators discuss increase in gas tax for roads

Cars are NOT getting better fuel mileage, the adulterated gas is making fuel mileage worse.

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We already have higher gas gas prices than a LOT of the country... if your are going to implement this, there needs to be equal legislation taxing the living*****out of the gas suppliers for price gouging the WV citizens! If you check the current (today's) gas prices across the country, we are the ranked with the highest few. Also agree with BOLO; hybrid and electric cars are using the roads the same as gas cars, if they are not going to be billed regularly, where do I sign up for the class action discrimination suit?

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Well said "WhistlingDixie"

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where is the lottery money?...i thought it was to go to roads, seniors and tourism...this will only send border counties to other states to fill up...

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User Fee is the new trend that you'll probably see here in some form. More you drive, the more you're going to pay. It'll be a process monitored through the DMV....just watch and see.

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Officials with the State Road will tell you that the gasoline tax is based on per gallon of gas. When the price goes up less gas is sold and therefore less money is realized. If I decide that I'm only going to spend 50 dollars a week on gas regardless because that is all that I can afford, then when the price goes up I buy less gallons and therefore less tax is collected. Most people are up against the wall now. How can we give more money to the government and continue to get less of a return?

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How about this thought??? Maybe if the Government spent (wasted) less money on Fell Good & Pork Projects, they could manage “OUR” (Taxpayer) money better??? Also too, what’s all the talk about paying their fair share?? There are “A LOT” of people or businesses (connect to Politicians) that get away with paying “A LOT” less. The first thing the State of West Virginia needs to do is… Rid the State of “ALL” Career Politicians’!

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Nonesuch- The state of North Carolina is going to start implementing user fee in the next few years. I heard that the state needs around 4 billion dollars for road maintenance alone. I really don't know how to fix this problem, I just know I use the West Virginia road system alot. good post.

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Most states are building toll roads. In Florida all future limited access roads are toll driven. Anyone who has been to Disney World lately will know what I mean. West Virginia, sooner or later, will adopt the same policy of "user tolls." The free ride of just paying a gas tax for your highways is over. The era of "socialist roadbuilding" is coming to an end. The future of toll roads will also be privitized, as in owned by a private company (the tea party folks will definitely have a celebration about that). Also, the price of gas is controled by the world market (price of a barrel of oil) regardless if the oil is produced in the U.S.A. or not. In a few years America will be energy independent on North American energy production (thanks to Obama). However, that does not mean the cost of gasoline is going down anytime soon. As long as China and India gobble up every barrel of oil that they can lay their hands on...gasoline is only going to get higher..a lo

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Tax and spend! All bow to the alter of Big Government! Separation of Church and State? Ha! The State has become the Church, we worship the State and we pray that the state provides for us and takes care of us.

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Where is all the money going??? In 2005 the state variable tax was $.065 per gallon. Roads were maintained pretty well then. Now it is $.145 per gallon. 123% increase and our roads are in poor shape. Don't even try to suggest that less gas consumption and inflation is anywhere near 123%. Someone is benefitting from more than doubling money available for the roads and it is not the roads.

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Alex, your anti-american ramblings about our fine President have gotten old. The people have spoken, so DEAL WITH IT!! As for the tax, it is what it is, unfortunately. No politician, regardless of party will touch the issue of gas prices. It is much bigger than any of them.

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Senator Byrd is no longer here to funnel money to the state so they have to do something to make up for the shortage.

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If it were a fair tax based on the amount each person drove, then I could see it. But it won't be. Just like other taxes and laws, they just put something out there so they can say "Well, we should feel better, we did something". But, what about the person with the electric car that doesn't need gas? That person is still driving on the same roads... It's going to have to be based on distance driven, not amount of fuel used. Drive more...pay more...makes sense

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hanchon is on to something. Increasing the gas tax and thereby increasing price of gasoline per gallon will not result in a long term gain of funds to maintain roads. Rather it will push many to purchase the much more efficient "non-contributor" vehicles.

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Yanks asked the question that I deleted from my comment: Where is the lottery money going?

We HAVE been drilling here and it has had no effect on gas prices. Also, look at the price of oil now compared to the first time gas hit $4. We've been near $4/gal again while oil hovers just under $100. The first time around, oil was in the area of $140/bbl. There's something wrong with this picture!

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User tax is probably the way to go, but 2 points:

It won't be based just on miles driven, it'll incorporate a "congestion tax": you'll pay more per mile on roads that are overcrowded.

Also, don't some vehicles cause more wear to the roadway than others? They should pay more per mile.

Does basing usage on GPS raise a privacy issue? When we're to be equipped w/ devices which continually send our locations to a government agency, will we see as much clamor over 4th Amendment rights (unreasonable search), as we're now seeing over 2nd Amendment rights? I'm not sure; a lot of people have already crossed that bridge w/ automatic tollbooth transponders. (EasyPass seems to get you through pretty much any tollbooth in the country, & bill your account.) But many drivers have yet to face the question.

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West Virginia gas tax is 34.7 cents per gal. and 3.6 cents above the national average of 31.1 cents per gal.

The federal gas tax of 18.4 cents is in addition to all state gas tax.

the federal gas tax is 18.4 cents per gal. which totals 53.1 cents.

The

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Never fear, the government will fix all of our problems! I think we should give them all of our money and just trust them to do the right thing with it. If you can't trust the government who can you trust?

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Put a surcharge on moving violation tickets.

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What "WhistlingDixie" is talking about is the same thing that's going on down in Raleigh County, in southern West Virginia, only its with the coal company's, its called "King Coal's Road to Nowhere," Its going to cast the the taxpayers "US" $2 billion of federal funds, to build, and when it's complete we get to pay money to support a road being destroyed by coal trucks, with little or no local traffic.

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I can only imagine that those who disagreed with my last statement have recently purchased said "non-contributor" vehicles.

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Double the price of a state inspection. You wanna cry about that? Consider Maryland, they have REAL vehicle inspections not this horse and pony show that WV has. Those inspections cost upwards of $100.00 a pop.

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I fail to understand why everyone is so eager to jump on the RAISE TAXES bandwagon (regardless of where you want to raise taxes). Why not demand our government budget and spend OUR money more wisely? Why not hold our government accountable for the money they have and spend and have spent over the years?

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I fail to understand why everyone is so eager to jump on the RAISE TAXES bandwagon (regardless of where you want to raise taxes). Why not demand our government budget and spend OUR money more wisely? Why not hold our government accountable for the money they have and spend and have spent over the years?

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