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Rendell Again Proposes Tax On Oil Companies To Fund Transportation Infrastructure
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At a press conference this week, Gov. Rendell said he would again propose a net profits tax on oil companies to help close the gap on state transportation funding and make it a criminal offense for the oil companies to pass along the cost of the tax to consumers.
The Governor said the net profit tax would be a substitute for the state's existing Corporate Net Income Tax for oil companies.
He said his final funding package, to be formally released on Monday, would also likely include an increase in vehicle and driver fees and an increase in the state gas tax.
To bolster his transportation funding proposal, Gov. Rendell released a poll saying the public overwhelmingly supports additional investments in highways and transit infrastructure. In addition, the poll looked at several specific options to raise transportation funding--
-- 74 percent supported a new net profits tax on oil companies raising about $500 million a year;
-- 48 percent supported raising vehicle and driver fees consistent with inflation raising about $434 million a year (33 cents a week); and
-- 34 percent supported raising the gas tax consistent with inflation raising about $236 million (about 4 cents a gallon or 46 cents a week).
He also noted his final plan next week may include a $1 to $1.5 billion annual, five year transportation funding program to be paid for through bonds.
In addition to the poll, Gov. Rendell said the Philadelphia and Allegheny County Chambers of Commerce will also send a letter to legislators asking for more transportation infrastructure funding.
Gov. Rendell said his bottom line is developing a plan, any plan, that will generate $472 million in annual revenue lost when the federal government did not approve the state's plan to toll I-80.
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8/23/2010 |
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