Gas tax side-deals may turn foul

By Taxpayers Association of Oregon
OregonWatchdog.com

As noted recently, a few Republican lawmakers are being courted to trade a no vote for a yes vote for a massive gas tax increase in exchange for local road project funding (possibly bridge, train).

When lawmakers approved the last massive gas tax increase in 2017, several promises were made when the entire $5 billion road package was passed.  Many of those promises and road projects are incomplete or not even started on nearly 10 years later.

The 2017 gas tax bill was supposed to fix the big traffic jam of the Blazers’ Rose Garden with added exit lanes.  Not a single ounce of pavement has been laid 8 years since. The project planning had quadrupled in costs — nearing a billion.  This was a promise made and a promise undelivered.

The Columbia River Crossing bridge replacement plan has proven to be another promise made in 2010 and 15 years later politicians are still talking about it.  The price tag has quadrupled since.

Whatever the promised road project as part of the massive gas tax bill, be warned that it may either not come to pass or that it may become another over-priced, over-delayed financial boondoggle.  This is exactly why some Republican lawmakers have proposed critical accountability measures to help stop the decades long mismanagement of the agency.  Just this year it was announced that ODOT made a billion dollar accounting error.  You simply can’t have a big tax increase without a big fix for the troubled agency.

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