I recently wrote an op-ed that was published in the Puget Sound Business Journal – you can find it here. 

Building on my op-ed in the PSBJ, before public officials seek new ways to tax us (like a mileage tax), they should evaluate how they are spending the money the public already pays. Drivers in Washington state pay the fourth highest gas tax in the nation, and pay millions more in various taxes and fees that are diverted to fund public transportation at both the state and local levels.

Unfortunately, transportation construction costs are soaring vastly beyond inflation. It is increasingly more expensive to preserve, maintain and improve our roads. Some of these costs are outside of the state’s control (materials, for example), but other costs are driven higher by politics (prevailing wage, government-mandated project labor agreements and environmental permitting, to name a few).

Public officials should not ask taxpayers for more money without dealing with these ever-increasing costs. Fortunately, state data shows that gas tax revenues are not declining - they are just not increasing at the rate officials want. More broadly, all transportation revenues (fuel tax, licenses, permits, fees, etc.) are also increasing as shown in the chart above. Fuel tax revenues make up nearly half of all revenue. In light of that fact, public officials have time to re-evaluate how they spend our money and where they can reduce costs before seeking a gas tax replacement.

The approach we have seen instead is one of a manufactured revenue crisis around “declining gas tax revenue,” requiring an immediate solution. This is not an honest or helpful approach to shaping public policy.

Rather than conjecturing about whether drivers are paying enough to keep up with the state’s spending, and campaigning for a new tax, public officials should pause and develop a thoughtful plan on how they can be more responsible with the money we currently pay.

Once they have done that, we can have a real conversation about a possible gas tax replacement that exclusively funds our critical road system.