Rendell kills proposed penny per gallon gasoline tax
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HARRISBURG -- Gov. Ed Rendell has quickly killed an attempt to add another 1 cent per gallon to the state's gasoline tax.
The extra tax would have gone to replenish a fund to clean up damage from leaking underground storage tanks.
Mr. Rendell called the attempted increase, proposed by the state Insurance Department, "ill-advised." He asked the department to withdraw the request this afternoon.
Anyone fueling up a vehicle in Pennsylvania would have had to hand over an additional penny per gallon.
Five years ago, the Underground Storage Tank Indemnification Fund was so flush with cash that legislators and then-Gov. Mark S. Schweiker borrowed $100 million from it to plug a hole in the state budget. Less than a third of that amount has been repaid.
But even if the loan is fully repaid, a state consultant says the obscure, state-administered insurance fund will be out of cash by 2015.
As a result, the fund's board voted Tuesday to nearly doubling one of the fees that finances it to 2 cents a gallon, and asked for a speedy approval from a state regulatory panel.
Senate Republicans accused the administration of trying to mount a stealth tax increase, and questioned whether the higher fee was immediately necessary.
"We're disturbed that the administration would propose what amounts to a $50 million increase in the gas tax without apparent justification," said Joe Pittman, the chief of staff for Sen. Don White, R-Indiana, the Banking and Insurance Committee chairman.
First Published November 28, 2007 9:56 am
