Painter Opposes Gas Tax

from the inbox:

State Rep. Mark Painter this week voted to support families and workers by opposing legislation that would greatly increase the gas tax.

"We desperately need to increase transportation funding, but this legislation unfairly hurts residents of our district.  Many of our residents drive long distances to work due in part to the lack of public transportation options available in our district and our long distance from Philadelphia.  As a result, our residents would be unfairly burdened by the increases in the gas tax and registration fees in this bill, with little benefit to show for it," said Painter, D-Montgomery. 

"There needs to be a substantial change in the way transportation funding is allocated. We need a system that puts more emphasis on traffic counts on roadways, and less emphasis on actual road miles. The current formula unfairly favors rarely used upstate back roads, which were designated as state roads years ago, at the expense of major highways such as 422, 202, and the Schuylkill Expressway. This legislation does little to change that unfair balance as well. 

"I understand that transportation funding is a major issue facing the commonwealth, but a major transportation bill like this only comes up about once every 10 years, so we need to make sure this is done correctly or additional problems will continue for years to come," Painter said.

The gas-tax hike Painter opposes (H.B. 1060) is expected to be signed into law by Gov. Tom Corbett.