Louisiana Lawmakers Considering Raising State’s Gasoline Tax

Lawmakers in Louisiana are going to meet for the 2017 fiscal year and during this meeting, they will be considering a bill that will raise the state tax on gasoline.

According to State Representative Kenny Havard, who is also the chairman of the House Transportation Committee, the state's gasoline tax has not been raised in over 20 years.

Louisiana’s 20 cent gas tax ranks 41 in the nation, and only 16 cents of it goes to the transportation trust fund. Although Havard does not want to raise taxes at all, he said that the state needs the revenue to help funds projects for our roads and bridges. He also said:

The buying power of that money has gone down. Everything has increased, the cost of concrete, asphalt, construction. So all we’re doing now is trying to keep our head afloat.

You say the word tax, and I cringe every time. We’re just talking about the facts, and the fact is everybody wants new roads, and everybody wants a new bridge, and no one wants to sit in traffic. It’s just, how do we pay for it?

The 18-member Louisiana Transportation Task Force, which Havard is a member of, has until January 1st to come up with suggestions on how to better fund these projects.

That’s what this task force has been commissioned to do is look at different revenue streams and see what we can do to support out infrastructure.