You Can't Argue With The Numbers

You Can't Argue With The Numbers  

Publication: MetroNews Talkline
Release Date: 05/28/08
Contact: Hoppy Kercheval

Determining how much money you spend on the state gas tax is now as easy as entering a few numbers at www.keepwestvirginiamoving.org . There's a calculator there the group, West Virginians For Better Transportation, is sponsoring.  Joe Denault says they're trying to show people they're not paying as much as they think for the state gas tax.

For example, a driver who puts in 12,000 miles on the road each year in a vehicle that gets 18 miles per gallon spends 57 cents each day for the state gas tax, $4 a week, $17 a month and $210 a year.

"People would jump to the conclusion that a great deal of the amount of money that they pay for gas actually goes into the gas tax," says Denault.  "But the fact is that over the last couple of decades the percentage of the cost of gas that is dedicated to the gas tax has gone down."

He says in the 1970s, 25% of the total cost of gas went into the gas tax.  That percentage is now at 8.9% today because the gas tax rate has not kept up with price increases.

Denault says the money the state tax generates is need for roadway improvements.  However, he says his group is not calling for a tax increase.

"We know that there is a lot of difficulty in raising gas taxes, raising anything that has to do with the price of gas.  We're simply saying that we can't rely on this form of revenue for the future needs of our state roads to the degree that we've relied on it in the past."

What's needed, Denault says, is a discussion about the importance of transportation and the need to properly fund it going into the future so there is a sustainable highway system in West Virginia.

Denault was a guest on Wednesday's MetroNews Talkline.