Looking for ways to bail the state out of a $472 million transportation-funding hole and a long-term $3.5-billion-a-year shortfall, the House Transportation Committee held the hearing at St. Joseph's University. The committee is conducting similar sessions around the state, as a special session of the legislature struggles to solve the transportation-funding crisis.
City officials, local planners, and employer groups urged an increase in the gasoline tax as the easiest, fastest way out of the jam.
"In the short term, I believe the only way to generate sufficient revenue is through an increase in the gas tax, and I am asking you to play a leadership role in making that happen," said Rina Cutler, Philadelphia deputy mayor for transportation and utilities.
Pennsylvania's current gas tax of 32.3 cents a gallon (including the oil company franchise tax) is 13th-highest in the nation, according to the American Petroleum Institute. The national average is 29.3 cents.
"Raising the gas tax by a nickel would cost the average driver just two dollars per month and raise over $300 million statewide," said Barry Seymour, executive director of the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission. "While it may never seem a popular idea to raise taxes or impose additional fees, particularly in the current economic climate, transportation services must be viewed as a utility that everyone uses, everyone benefits from, and everyone must pay for."
Seymour said $1.5 billion in regional highway projects and $2.3 billion in transit projects had been postponed by the state's transportation-funding crisis.
Pennsylvania faces a $472 million shortage in transportation funding for the year that begins July 1, because the federal government rejected the state's application to make Interstate 80 a toll road and use the proceeds for transportation projects around the state.
