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9/2/05-If three Republican lawmakers in Wisconsin get their way, drivers in the state would get a slight reprieve from high fuel prices.
Representatives Robin Vos, Pat Strachota and Don Pridemore want Gov. Jim Doyle to call a special legislative session to approve their plan to give residents a fuel tax holiday for the rest of the year. If the Democratic governor, as expected, fails to call lawmakers back to the capitol to consider the tax holiday, Republicans say they plan to pursue the effort when the regular session resumes in mid September.
A similar plan was implemented last year in Florida. Lawmakers cut the state’s gas tax by 8 cents per gallon for the month of August, saving motorists there $59.7 million.
Wisconsin’s GOP lawmakers want to cut the state’s tax on diesel and gasoline by 15 cents per gallon through the end of the year.
“I can’t control OPEC, I can’t control crude oil output in the Gulf, but I can work with my colleagues to try to help people who need help right now with gas prices that are going through the roof,” Voss told Land Line.
Voss, of Caledonia, said the loss of state revenue would be offset by using $180.8 million left after Doyle’s vetoes of the state’s two-year budget, which transferred additional money from the state’s transportation fund to the general fund.
“If you’re going to collect it, it should be spent on roads and transit. If you’re going to collect it and spend it somewhere else, we shouldn’t collect it in the first place,” Voss said. “Our plan is to take the money he raided out of that transportation fund and use it as a 15-cent cut in all motor vehicle fuel.”
But the office of the Democratic governor says the revenue has already been designated to schools.
Doyle spokeswoman Melanie Fonder told The Associated Press that taking the money away now would drive up property tax bills.
Representatives Robin Vos, Pat Strachota and Don Pridemore want Gov. Jim Doyle to call a special legislative session to approve their plan to give residents a fuel tax holiday for the rest of the year. If the Democratic governor, as expected, fails to call lawmakers back to the capitol to consider the tax holiday, Republicans say they plan to pursue the effort when the regular session resumes in mid September.
A similar plan was implemented last year in Florida. Lawmakers cut the state’s gas tax by 8 cents per gallon for the month of August, saving motorists there $59.7 million.
Wisconsin’s GOP lawmakers want to cut the state’s tax on diesel and gasoline by 15 cents per gallon through the end of the year.
“I can’t control OPEC, I can’t control crude oil output in the Gulf, but I can work with my colleagues to try to help people who need help right now with gas prices that are going through the roof,” Voss told Land Line.
Voss, of Caledonia, said the loss of state revenue would be offset by using $180.8 million left after Doyle’s vetoes of the state’s two-year budget, which transferred additional money from the state’s transportation fund to the general fund.
“If you’re going to collect it, it should be spent on roads and transit. If you’re going to collect it and spend it somewhere else, we shouldn’t collect it in the first place,” Voss said. “Our plan is to take the money he raided out of that transportation fund and use it as a 15-cent cut in all motor vehicle fuel.”
But the office of the Democratic governor says the revenue has already been designated to schools.
Doyle spokeswoman Melanie Fonder told The Associated Press that taking the money away now would drive up property tax bills.