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Senate advances highway package: 5-cent gas tax, bonding cap and diesel collection changes approved
Summary
After extended debate, the Utah Senate adopted a transportation funding package on March 5, 1997, approving a 5-cent-per-gallon gas tax increase paired with an 1/8-cent sales-tax reduction, a two-year $350 million cap on initial highway bonds and a change to diesel tax collection that moves collection to the refinery ("the rack"). The measures passed on separate roll calls and will return to the House where needed.
The Utah Senate on March 5 approved a multi-part transportation funding package that raises the state motor-fuel tax, authorizes highway bonding with an early cap, and changes how diesel fuel taxes are collected.
Senators passed a substitute version of SB253 that raises the gasoline tax by 5 cents per gallon, transfers an existing petroleum surcharge into highway funding, and reduces the state sales tax by one-eighth of a cent. Sponsor Senator McAllister described the measure as the central element of the Centennial Highway funding plan and cited fiscal projections estimating roughly $63.3 million in increased transportation revenue in fiscal 1998 and rising amounts in subsequent years.
"This bill is the very essence of our agreement," McAllister said on the floor,…
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