Kudos to the brave 207 members of the New Hampshire House of
Representatives who voted on March 6 to advance a bill to increase the gas tax
by 15 cents over four years! The
bill got a unanimous vote in committee and attracted 15 Republican votes on the
floor (Concord Monitor story here).
Committee chairman David Campbell, in his report, noted the
dire state of the state’s roads and bridges and argued that “the only way to
begin to correct the problem is by properly funding the repairs of our
crumbling infrastructure. Only money, not words and not ideology, will fix
roads and bridges.”
On the floor, Rep. John Cloutier gave an upbeat assessment
of the bill’s chances: “I believe that today is finally the day when this House
stands up and says that we’re going to invest in our infrastructure, we’re
going to put a halt to the gradual deterioration of our infrastructure and we
are going to return to New Hampshire’s traditional, bipartisan policy of caring
for its roads and bridges.” Let’s
hope!
Unfortunately, that spirit hasn’t touched everyone, with one
opponent calling the tax increase “a stunning overreach of government.” (I’d have to call that a stunning
overreach of rhetoric.)
Future prospects for the legislation are mixed at best.
By the way, I rather like how New Hampshire refers to its
motor fuels tax as a “road toll.”
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