24 Major Groups Call
For Transportation
Plan
As Part Of Event At State Capitol

Click for more information

 
 
News
 

Better roads cost real money; Something to think about when complaining about either  

Publication:  Charleston Daily Mail
Release Date: 01/19/2007

AS West Virginians follow the discussion of what to do about the state’s inadequate Road Fund, it is useful to know what impact the state’s current taxes have on family budgets. Executive Director Mike Clowser of the Contractors Association of West Virginia reviewed it this week for the Senate Transportation Committee. Gov. Joe Manchin’s one-year moratorium on a variable tax on the wholesale price of fuel saved motorists — and cost the Road Fund — $55 million last year. Re-imposition of the 4.5-cent tax will return the variable portion of the gas tax from 6.5 cents per gallon to 11 cents per gallon. That will cost state drivers an average of $24.35 this year. A West Virginia University study of two years ago showed that passenger cars got an average of 22.9 miles per gallon, and motorists bought an average of 541 gallons of fuel a year. At that rate, with the overall gas tax at 31.5 cents per gallon, a typical West Virginia motorist would pay $170 a year in fuel taxes, Clowser said. And probably still want better roads.