Carter won’t pursue efforts to increase state gas tax

BATON ROUGE — The sponsor of a 17-cent-per-gallon state gasoline tax increase took his state Republican Party to task here Wednesday when he killed his bill, saying the party is out of touch and hasn’t told the full truth about the legislation.

Rep. Steve Carter, R-Baton Rouge, put House Bill 632 back on the calendar with no plans to bring it back for a vote. He said the 70 votes needed weren’t there, even when he considered reducing the proposed increase to 10 cents per gallon.

Carter said he wasn’t going to force his colleagues to vote on a measure that had little chance for approval. House members applauded his efforts to handle the controversial issue in the face of tremendous odds.

Carter mentioned GOP party statements that claimed only 50 percent of the new revenues would be spent on road construction, which he said isn’t true.

Americans for Prosperity, a national conservative organization that fought the tax increase, also came in for some of Carter’s wrath. He said the state is “being controlled by people who live outside our state.” The organization’s tactics are “electoral intimidation,” he said.

The 17-cent tax would have raised over $500 million annually. A 10-cent tax would raise over $300 million.

“You can tell I’m frustrated,” Carter said. He said his state party and outside organizations are killing an opportunity to create 65,000 jobs in Louisiana and $2.6 billion in economic activity. He said the state party’s opposition to the tax increase carried by only two votes.

Carter said 27 states have raised gasoline taxes since 2012, including Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Texas, Virginia and many other states. Twenty of those states have Republican governors, he said, and 98 percent of the legislators who voted for higher gasoline taxes won their next primary elections.

The gasoline tax bill was tied to other legislation designed to spend all the new money on transportation projects and bring more accountability to the state Department of Transportation and Development. The legislation also had the support of 34 major state business and economic development organizations.

Lawmakers applauded when Carter said the department is doing great work. He also praised Shawn Wilson, secretary of the department.

“Put this on your agenda. We need to find a way to solve this problem,” Carter said. He mentioned the poor condition of the Interstate 10 bridge over the Calcasieu River at Lake Charles. He said he hopes no lives are ever lost like they have been in other areas of the country where bridges have collapsed.

A number of House members used personal privilege to appeal to their colleagues to do something about the state’s crumbling infrastructure. Others said their constituents sent them to Baton Rouge to oppose taxes and vote “no.”

Rep. Lance Harris, R-Alexandria and chairman of the House Republican Caucus, asked his colleagues not to misread the comments. He said there just happens to be two different political philosophies in the House and he doesn’t take defeat of legislation personally.

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(Source: MGN Online)

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