(Host) The House has given final approval to a transportation bill that includes a bond package to repair roads and bridges throughout the state.
During the four-hour debate on the bill, House members reaffirmed their support for increasing the gas tax by five-cents-per-gallon to finance the bond.
Coventry Representative Michael Marcotte argued that this isn’t the time to raise taxes in Vermont, particularly because the state’s unemployment rate is on the rise. He noted that the rate in Newport is the highest in the state at 12.3 percent.
(Marcotte) "And asking my constituents to now give 5 cents more on a gallon of gas, I believe this will hurt my people that are out of work and trying to find work, that are unemployed, causing them more difficulty."
(Host) But Rutland Representative Steve Howard said one of the goals of the bill is to help create hundreds of jobs throughout the state.
(Howard) "This bill is as much about job creation for the people in the member’s district, my district, and all our districts as it is about solving what has been a decades-long problem deferring needed investment in our infrastructure."
(Host) By a three-to-one margin, the House rejected an effort to remove the tax increase from the bill.
The measure now goes to the Senate. The gas tax plan is just one of several options that the Senate Transportation Committee is reviewing to pay for the new bond.