This Washington
City Gas Tax Could Bring in $12-$13 Million
A three-cent city of Seattle-only gas tax could bring the city between $12.5 million and $13.5 million a year, the city's lobbying department told city council members this morning. That revenue would help offset some of the cuts that are coming down from the state level, and would augment any vehicle-license fee or motor-vehicle excise tax the city or King County decided to implement under separate legislation that's coming up for a hearing in the senate transportation committee later today. Tomorrow is the cutoff for bills to make it out of fiscal committees (transportation or ways and means) in their house of origin.
Gov. Chris Gregoire's original transportation proposal would have raised $3.6 million over ten years---a fraction of the $20 billion package proposed by the Connecting Washington Task Force, a state-appointed group set up to suggest transportation funding options, late last year. The latest proposal, staffers said, would cut that already-reduced amount down to more like $70 or $80 million a year, while giving cities and counties more options to raise revenues at the local level.
With gas prices already as high as they are, council member Mike O'Brien said, an additional three-cent tax "is just kind of noise. I see gas stations across the street from each other" with prices that vary by as much as five cents, he added.
One key aspect of the governor's proposal, a $1.50-per-barrel fee on oil refined in Washington State, died after the oil industry lobbied legislators against it, Office of Intergovernmental Relations state legislative director Craig Engelking said. "The oil industry objected to the fee and that was enough to basically grind it to a halt."
Gov. Chris Gregoire's original transportation proposal would have raised $3.6 million over ten years---a fraction of the $20 billion package proposed by the Connecting Washington Task Force, a state-appointed group set up to suggest transportation funding options, late last year. The latest proposal, staffers said, would cut that already-reduced amount down to more like $70 or $80 million a year, while giving cities and counties more options to raise revenues at the local level.
With gas prices already as high as they are, council member Mike O'Brien said, an additional three-cent tax "is just kind of noise. I see gas stations across the street from each other" with prices that vary by as much as five cents, he added.
One key aspect of the governor's proposal, a $1.50-per-barrel fee on oil refined in Washington State, died after the oil industry lobbied legislators against it, Office of Intergovernmental Relations state legislative director Craig Engelking said. "The oil industry objected to the fee and that was enough to basically grind it to a halt."
