editorials

The board of the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce is ratcheting up the pressure on Gov. Tim Pawlenty and the 2008 Legislature to significantly increase transportation spending.

The chamber, long a backer of a 5-cent per gallon increase in the gas tax, now backs a 7.5-cent boost, with the additional 2.5 cents to be used for debt service on $500 million in bonding for roads and bridges.

That change is important, coming from one of the most potent lobbying forces at the Capitol. But what may be more significant is the chamber's acknowledgement that Minnesota needs to spend $100 million more per year on transit, and that a metro-only dedicated sales tax would be acceptable to the chamber under the right circumstances as a source of that money.

A higher sales tax is not the chamber's first choice, mind you -- especially not as long as business continues to pay 45 cents of every dollar the state collects in sales tax revenue. A draft statement by the chamber board says that the state's largest business organization still officially opposes an increase in the sales tax. It would prefer to raise the needed transit money with higher fares, the capturing of higher property taxes along transit routes, and bonding, with the debt serviced by existing state revenues.

But the chamber goes on to specify conditions it wants to see "if a metro sales tax increase is necessary" to hit the $100 million per year target. Among them: a vote by metro residents to trigger the tax, a 2020 sunset and a sales tax exemption for some business inputs.

Outlining conditions under which a sales tax increase for transit would not be opposed by the chamber is quite different from imposing a roadblock, as the chamber has done in the past. This new position, coming less than three weeks before the 2008 session's Feb. 12 start, should be seen by legislators and the governor as a plea for them to end their blame game over this state's transportation ills and to come together on a compromise to correct them.

Minnesotans heard far too much unproductive rhetoric from St. Paul this week, especially in the wake of the National Transportation Safety Commission's statement Tuesday about the weak spot -- thin gusset plates -- in the design of the Interstate 35W bridge that collapsed on Aug. 1.

NTSB Chairman Mark Rosenker stressed that the full cause of the bridge collapse has not yet been determined, but both Pawlenty and legislators reacted as if the final word had been spoken. Depending on who held the megaphone, that constituted either vindication for MnDOT or a politically motivated cover-up by the NTSB. Neither of those claims appear warranted. What's more, neither of them serve the cause of better transportation for Minnesota.

It's no small thing for the tax-averse Chamber of Commerce to call for higher taxes -- especially as economic storm clouds gather. But businesspeople know well that deteriorating roads and bridges and inadequate transit are a drag on the Minnesota economy that's getting heavier by the year.

A study this month by the progressive think tank Minnesota 2020 pegged the per-commuter cost of Twin Cities traffic congestion at $790 a year -- much more than that typical commuter would pay if the gas tax were boosted a dime per gallon.

The same study noted that states that have fared better economically than Minnesota in recent years, among them Colorado and Virginia, have outspent this state on transportation. In fact, most states have: Minnesota's per-capita capital outlays for roads and transit ranked 48th in the nation in 2005, the MN 2020 study says.

Seen in that light, the chamber's new transportation proposal shouldn't be seen as an endorsement of higher taxes. It's a call for an economic boost from better roads, bridges and transit, just when Minnesota badly needs it.