Our View

Our View

Voters to get road funding initiative next November

This never-ending quest among whining bureaucrats and tax and spend politicians to generate more money for the financially anemic state highway department are now focusing their attention on going directly to taxpayers in the form of an initiated act.

That was the consensus among members of the Arkansas Highway Commission recently in response to being rebuffed by politicians during two sessions of the Legislature where road construction funding initiatives failed.

While exactly what form the proposed act that would be targeted for inclusion on the November 2018 general election ballot wasn’t made clear, what was discussed is a tax revenue plan we have advocated for in 2010 that was originally proposed during the administration of former Gov. Mike Beebe and members of his Blue Ribbon Committee on Highway Finance.

Scott Bennett, the director of the AHD, is proposing a worthy plan that failed legislative approval two years ago in which revenue from a portion of the statewide sales tax on new and used vehicles and other road-user items – the equivalent of 4.5 percent would be transferred to road construction in a five-year phase-in period.

This idea that better utilizes existing tax revenues and would avoid additional tax and grab plans, would sure get the support of Arkansas taxpayers.

To minimize the impact on general revenue, Bennett’s proposal would transfer the general revenue the Legislature raised last year for highways in a special session.

By 2014, the initiative would net $342 million annually to the department and would not further financially impact Arkansans, which is why we believe it would be very popular among voters.

One failed proposal from Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s Good Roads Foundation during this recent session of the Legislature that we vehemently opposed called for a 6.5 percent statewide sales tax on the wholesale price of fuel. That tax, coupled with all the other taxes on fuel, would equate to near 50 cents of every dollar spent on fuel at the pump, the highest fuel tax of any surrounding state.

Another tax grab by House politicians that failed in the Senate was a bill that would have directed revenue from a tax on items purchased online to road construction.

This idea came about when Gov. Hutchinson convinced e-commerce business Amazon to collect Arkansas sales taxes on purchases made by Arkansans from out-of-state retailers, a tax grab we have strongly opposed.

It is apparent that after years of studies and failed road tax plans in the Legislature future endeavors may be left up to the AHD coming up with its own proposals to be presented to Arkansas in the form of initiated acts.

Listen, we all recognized that the current system of paying for our state roads and highways is antiquated and desperately needs revision, but by the same token there is absolutely no excuse to always think that raising taxes is the best and the only solution. One of the main reasons Arkansas and the country are facing the same problem is due, in large part, to our politicians bowing to the pressures of extreme environmentalists that has resulted in an influx of fuel efficient vehicles such as hybrids and electric resulting in a dramatic drop in both fuel consumption and fuel tax revenues, thus less money to maintain our aging roads, highways and bridges. So, whatever savings are made in fuel efficient vehicles is offset by the need for substantial increases in taxes to make up the difference.