Politics & Government

NH House Hikes Gas Tax by 12 Cents

The bill, passed 206-158, would increase the road toll 4 cents a year over three years.

The state gas tax would increase 12 cents over three years under a bill approved by the New Hampshire House of Representatives on March 27.

The House voted 206 to 158 to pass House Bill 617, proposed by Rep. David Campbell (D-Nashua) to help fund critical highway and bridge improvements.

The bill would increase diesel by 2 cents a year over six years. The legislation would generate $92 million a year, which each cent of the increase being dedicated to improving roads and bridges, according to Campbell. He says it would go toward addressing major concerns, including:

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  • widening of I-93 from Manchester to Salem, which is $250 million underfunded.
  • funding support for towns and cities to fix local roads and bridges.
  • and money to pare down the list of 140 "red list" bridges, including the state's No. 1 bridge with structural problems, the Sarah Mildred Long Bridge connecting Portsmouth to Kittery, Maine, which will cost an estimated $85 million to rebuild.

"Jobs and the economy," Campbell said in a final pitch to the House before the vote. "Investing in roads and bridges is clearly not a partisan issue."

The state's gas tax is now 18 cents. Campbell's original bill called for a 15-cent increase over four years, which would've generated $1,985,134 in road repair revenue for Merrimack. The version of the bill approved Wednesday was pared to 12 cents, House members acknowledged, in an effort to gain support – and as part of a bid to win votes in the Senate.

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But Republican leaders were quick to bash the bill.

House Republican Leader Gene Chandler (R-Bartlett) called it the wrong bill at the wrong time. He argued the state should first make sure gas tax revenues are being properly directed to roads and bridges.

House Republican Policy Leader Laurie Sanborn (R-Bedford) joined a cacophony of GOP members calling the bill a tax hike on the poor.

"This is yet another tax increase on the backs of those who can least afford it," Sanborn said in press release. "We are very concerned about the impact of a gas tax increase on the working families and small businesses in our state during these tough economic times. Now is not the time to be discouraging economic growth. We need to focus on getting the 40,000 people in New Hampshire who are looking for work back to work. Further burdening our business community and forcing our consumers to pay more at the pump is a step in the wrong direction."

Though Campbell refers to the gas tax, aka the road toll, as a user fee, the debate at the Statehouse had a vociferous anti-tax appeal. Gov. Meldrim Thomson, was among those rallying opponents against the bill.

It is wrong to raise the tax when it is already so high, according to Thomson, the honorary chairman of Americans for Prosperity in NH.

“The prospect facing New Hampshire families is not only will it cost them more to fill up their tank to drive to the store, but when they get there, everything they need to purchase will be more expensive as well," he says.


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