NO: Ohioans shouldn’t be asked to pay more in taxes

Gov. Mike Dewine kicked off his first term with a demand to make Ohio’s gasoline tax the fifth-highest in the nation with an 18-cents-per-gallon tax hike indexed to inflation. Indexing makes that an automatic tax hike year after year without any vote by the legislature.

The Houseapproved transportation budget included a smaller, 10.7-cent tax hike, no anti-democratic indexing to inflation and diesel-fuel tax hikes.

The Ohio Senate has taken an even better position, significantly slashing the rate to 6 cents with a vote Thursday. Now the legislature should follow through on Senate President Larry Obhof’s and Sen. Rob Mccolley’s insistence on finding offsetting tax cuts, so the overall burden on Ohioans does not increase.

The drastic tax hike supported by the governor may seem like ripping the Band-aid off and dealing with a tough policy issue early, but it sends a very different message to Ohio families and businesses.

It tells them Columbus can’t manage the budget responsibly enough to avoid taxing them more, even when the 2018 fiscal year ended with a $650 millionplus surplus.

It tells them those officials think roads are less of a budget priority than anything else Somehow they cannot find waste, inefficiency or a failing program that can be trimmed to avoid taking more money out of hardworking Ohioans’ pockets. Even though the Buckeye Institute’s “Piglet Book” — its list of recommended cuts — from the last budget cycle found $3.5 billion in wasteful spending that would be an obvious starting point.

Gas taxes hit hardest the people who can least afford the burden. A Strategas Partners analysis found a gas tax hike of 25-cents (along with rising gas prices) would eliminate up to 60 percent of the savings taxpayers saw from the 2016 federal tax-reform bill. Trump giveth, and Dewine taketh away.

The tax also hits rural drivers who use more gas to drive greater distances, but do so on roads that are more affordable to repair. Their gas-tax money goes off to the other side of the state to fund repairs on more-expensive roads and bridges.

That is why the gas tax is not a “user fee.” If it were, it would be doing a better job of keeping up with the costs it is supposed to cover. Instead, the gas tax covered only 43 percent of total spending on state and local roads.

Another problem with the gas tax: revenues are unlikely to live up to the hype. The 2003 gas-tax increase failed to bring in the promised revenue. Now, with electric-vehicle use having jumped 54 percent from 2016 to 2017 alone, the situation is even more difficult. It’s no wonder other options are being looked at.

If an increase remains on the table, other taxes, such as on sales or income, should be cut to compensate.

Obhof and Mccolley have led in supporting offsets; other legislators should follow. Mccolley told Watchdog.org, “I think mainly we should not be raising taxes on Ohioans. The net tax should remain the same or be lessened.”

Lawmakers also should ensure that the cost of the road repairs are as low as possible. One great way to do that is to repeal the prevailingwage requirement for these projects. Prevailing wage forces union wages to be paid on public projects, even to workers who aren’t in unions — killing competition and maximizing costs. Repealing this mandate for schoolconstruction projects saved Ohio taxpayers $500 million over four years.

Michigan, Wisconsin and West Virginia have abolished prevailing wage. If House Speaker Larry Householder is critical of the amount of the Senate’s gas-tax increase, prevailing-wage reform is a great way to make sure that money goes further.

Ohio taxpayers should not pay more in taxes. Ohio politicians should focus spending on roads and bridges — and reduce spending elsewhere.

Grover Norquist is president of Americans for Tax Reform. Founded in 1985, ATR is a nonprofit group dedicated to advancing lower taxes and limited government. ATR State Projects Director Doug Kellogg contributed to this piece.