Why So Difficult for States to Raise Gas Taxes? Learning from Alaska and Missouri

Gas prices are "down more than $1.14 a gallon from the same period a year ago," reported Time in January, yet Alaska is struggling with a penny increase in the gas tax?

No—I got that wrong: The tax was initially written as one penny, but that appeared to be .05 cents too much for the state senate.

"House Bill 158, proposed by Rep. Cathy Muñoz, R-Juneau, suggested a cent-per-gallon increase. It passed the House by a single vote, 21-19, on April 8," writes James Brooks of Juneau Empire.

This is not even a tax to fund road infrastructure - it's "to pay for a spill prevention and response program run by the Alaska Division of Environmental Conservation," explaining why in addition to gasoline, it would apply to marine fuel and heating oil.

Back to the senate. “We thought a penny a gallon was too much,” said Sen. Peter Micciche, R-Soldotna. while testifying in favor of the bill, notes Brooks. 

And the opposition: "It looks like another tax and spend operation,” said Sen. Bert Stedman, R-Sitka.

Maybe I'm being too harsh on Alaska. Recently I wrote about an April 13 St. Louis Post-Dispatch editorial that praised the Missouri legislature for considering a six-cents increase to the gas tax even though the editorial noted that it was too low to meet MoDOT's needs.

The next day, the paper reported the tax had been reduced to two cents. On April 16, the bill had stalled and "Senate Majority Leader Ron Richard said that he doesn't want to waste more time on the bill," according to KSDK-TV.

By the way, Missouri's 17.3-cent gas tax is the fifth lowest in the country [PDF].

The Alaska legislature has passed a .95-cents gasoline and marine and heating oil tax, after all.

"It now goes to Gov. Bill Walker for his signature," writes Brooks. "If the bill becomes law, it would be the first tax increase on the public since 2005."

Should Walker sign it, the Last Frontier State will join the growing list of Republican state government trifectas, including Georgia, Utah, South Dakota Increasing the gas tax this year—even if by less than a penny.

Look under "comments" for the final disposition.