BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Pothole-riddled roads, traffic congestion and a never-addressed wish list of transportation projects are driving Louisiana's lawmakers to consider state tax increases to raise new money for roadwork.
The House Ways and Means Committee approved two proposals Tuesday that could pour billions of dollars into road and bridge improvements and upgrades over the next decade: a 1-cent state sales tax increase and a 10-cent state gasoline tax increase.
Both measures are sponsored by Rep. Karen St. Germain, who chairs the House Transportation Committee and has spent years searching for ways to tackle Louisiana's $12 billion backlog of transportation projects.
"You can't get to the hospital and you can't get to school without a road and one that is usable," said St. Germain, D-Pierre Part. "It is beyond my comprehension that we have allowed it to get this bad."
She said Louisiana has delayed addressing the backlog of road and bridge work so long that "we kicked the can down the road but we lost it in a pothole."
The committee agreed to the sales tax increase without objection and voted 7-3 for the gas tax bill. They head next to the full House for consideration.
But they are long shots.
They require two-thirds support from the House and Senate for passage. Meanwhile, Gov. Bobby Jindal opposes tax increases that aren't offset with a corresponding tax break somewhere else, which would undercut the purpose for passing the proposals.
Bill supporters say the state has $150 billion in industrial projects planned in the state, but a lack of adequate infrastructure to handle the people, supplies and construction equipment required. They said neighboring Texas continues to pour billions into road improvements, making it more difficult for Louisiana to compete for economic development projects.
"We've got our head buried in the sand if we think we're going to fund some of these projects in the future. It's just not going to happen" without new money, said Ken Naquin, CEO of Louisiana Associated General Contractors.
Anti-tax organization Americans for Prosperity, the main political advocacy group for billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, opposed both proposals. The Louisiana Association of Business and Industry also objected.
Neither group testified in the committee hearing.
The sales tax increase would begin July 1 and run for 10 years, raising an estimated $4 billion over the first five years and boosting the state's sales tax to 5 cents on every dollar.
With local sales tax rates included, Louisiana already has one of the highest combined average sales tax rates in the nation. St. Germain's bill would bump it to the highest, according to data from the Tax Foundation.
The proposal would earmark much of the money to a list of 16 specific highway and bridge projects considered major economic development drivers in regions around the state. A slice of the money would be placed in an infrastructure bank for local road projects.
The gas tax increase also would run for 10 years, the first such increase since 1984. It would bump up Louisiana's gasoline tax to 30 cents per gallon from 20 cents per gallon.
Describing the increase as a "user fee" for roads, St. Germain said it would raise an estimated $300 million annually.