This Rebuild Alabama Act is a gas tax increase that is filled with landmines for politicians.
Any tax increase is going to be unpopular. I would vote no on this particular increase, but politicians make it worse by not explaining the reasoning for some of the more unpopular measures.
One of those landmines is the “indexing” of the gas tax to construction costs via the National Highway Construction Cost Index. This means as construction costs go up, so does the gas tax. This means that the cost of this particular tax could go up to one penny every two years.
Almost every other tax you pay is indexed in a similar way.
As your income goes up, the income tax and payroll taxes you and your employer pay also go up, as does the tax collected.
As the price of goods and services go up with inflation, the sales tax you pay goes up, as does the tax collected.
As the value of the property you own goes up, the property tax you pay goes up, as does the tax collected.
This particular measure is wildly unpopular with the anti-tax group Alabama First, which conducted a poll that found 83.06 percent of respondents are opposed to that particular measure.
But why? If we had indexed the 1992 gas tax increase, we would not be having this conversation and, more importantly, the roads would be in better shape.
The road repair and building monies collected by the state would have increased slowly with the cost of inflation and, more importantly, the roads would be in better shape.
The argument that we haven’t raised a tax in 20-plus years would be non-existent and, more importantly, the roads would be in better shape.
Sometimes things that are unpopular are good, and this is one of those times. Roads need to be maintained, which is something that never ends. The price to do that is not going to go down.
Our laws need to reflect that and our politicians need to better job explaining it.
Dale Jackson is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts a talk show from 7-11 am weekdays on WVNN
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