State Senate Democrats proposed a new fuel tax of 6.5 percent per gallon, along with a hike in license tab fees and a one-cent sales tax increase in the seven-county metropolitan area, as a way to raise about $800 million in additional state money every year to upgrade Minnesota's transportation system.
"This is a serious problem that requires a serious solution," said Sen. Susan Kent, DFL-Woodbury, who appeared with a handful of colleagues at a Monday morning news conference to unveil their plan. The Democrats, many of whom represent swing districts, acknowledged the political difficulty of a proposal that would demand more money from the pockets of every Minnesota driver.
"I can't think of another path," said Sen. Vicki Jensen, DFL-Owatonna. "I can't find another path" to raising the kind of money needed to repair and replace thousands of miles of crumbling roads, hundreds of aging bridges while also increasing road capacity with a few key projects.
The proposal, authored by Minneapolis DFL Sen. Scott Dibble, has as its centerpiece the sales tax on gas at the wholesale level of 6.5 percent a gallon. That would be on top of the existing 28.5-cents-per-gallon state gas tax, so drivers would definitely pay more at the pump.
That's identical to a proposal from Gov. Mark Dayton, who has identified a big transportation spending boost as one of his top priorities of the new legislative session. Dayton has also advocated a license tab fee increase and a metro sales tax.
Dayton and DFL senators have repeatedly cited the work of a transportation panel, convened by Dayton in 2012, that produced a report stating the state needs to raise about an additional $6 billion over 10 years in order to keep its roads and bridges in decent working order.
Republicans, who hold the House majority, have also called fixing roads and bridges a priority; but GOP lawmakers have been much more reluctant to sign on with tax increases. Last week, House Republicans proposed an additional $750 million in transportation funding in the next four years, a figure Dayton blasted as not nearly sufficient.
The DFL and GOP are also likely to square off over transit funding. The one-cent metro sales tax increase in the Senate plan would raise about $250 million in 2016, or an estimated $1.30 a week for the average metro resident.
