COLUMBUS - The only tax lawmakers seem to agree upon this year would make Ohio the most expensive state in the region to buy gasoline.

And, it would do nothing to help the state's current budget woes.

Speaker Larry Householder (R., Glenford) predicted the same House that has rejected Gov. Bob Taft's other proposed tax increases will vote to increase the gasoline tax by 6 cents over three years and raise license and registration fees to generate $539 million more a year for roads and bridges.

“I hate to say it, but this could be the hardest one to stop,” said Sen. Jim Jordan (R., Urbana), an ardent tax opponent. “I'm not sure why that is. The gas tax has a different aura, particularly for conservative lawmakers, but I see it as another tax.”

The vote will come just as prices at the pump are spiking.

When fully phased in by 2005 at the rate of 2 additional cents each year, the tax increase alone would generate $402 million more a year, 75 percent for the state and 25 percent for local governments, for maintenance and new construction.

“In the eyes of some, it might be considered part of the overall broad sweep of taxes, but it's a unique animal,” said Bill Selsam, president of the Ohio Conference of AAA Clubs. “It's a dedicated tax. If you use it, you pay.... If you pay it, you see the results of it.”

The gasoline tax is dedicated entirely to highways, bridges, and related expenses with the exception of 1 percent skimmed off the top for boating programs. Ohio's tax per gallon has stood at 22 cents since 1993, 3 cents more for diesel. The tax's revenue has stagnated in recent years at $1.4 billion annually.

The House plan would also raise the driver's license fee 85 percent to $21.75, the vehicle registration fee in Toledo by 18 percent to $51.25, and the car-titling fee by 160 percent to $13.

That would raise an estimated $177 million more a year so that the Ohio Highway Patrol, now consuming 2.9 cents of the gasoline tax annually, can be shifted to fees as a funding source. That would free up the patrol's share of the gas tax exclusively for local projects.

Gordon Proctor, director of the Ohio Department of Transportation, estimated that, when coupled with borrowing, the additional revenue would mean at least $250 million a year for state construction projects and $289 million for local government projects over 10 years.

He is also keeping his fingers crossed for additional federal aid in the next six-year transportation budget that Congress has yet to approve.

Larry Davis, president of the 1,100-member Ohio Trucking Association, said a tax hike now, coupled with already rising gas prices, will put some trucking companies out of business.

“It's the second-largest expense when it comes to running trucking companies,” he said. “A truck averages six miles to a gallon. The kind of increase they're talking about would have a very large impact.”

Mr. Proctor acknowledged Mr. Davis could be right.

“They have very small margins, but not raising this revenue and not fixing these congestion problems brings other costs to other people,” he said.

The gas tax has largely been separated from Mr. Taft's other tax “reform” proposals affecting sales, income, and corporate taxes to balance Ohio's next two-year budget.

Lawmakers have already rejected his proposed increases in cigarette and alcohol taxes, as well as an alternative temporary sales tax hike, to help patch a recent shortfall in the current budget.

Even anti-tax activist Scott Pullins, highly critical of Republicans for considering a temporary penny hike in the sales tax, has taken a neutral stance on the gas tax.

“All taxes are harmful, but this one isn't quite as harmful as the income tax or sales tax,” he said.

Once fully implemented, the 28-cent tax, on top of the federal 18.4-cent excise tax, would make Ohio's the highest motor fuels tax in the region. Michigan and Pennsylvania currently tax gasoline at 26.9 and 26.7 cents per gallon respectively.

Even Democrats who've refused to put up votes for Mr. Taft's other tax proposals are hedging on this one. House Democratic leader Chris Redfern (D., Catawba Island) noted the governor's plan would provide Ottawa County in his district with an 87 percent increase in road and bridge dollars.

“I think [even the most conservative lawmakers are] reasonably satisfied that we have become an efficient operation and that, if we get this revenue, it's not going to disappear into the bowels of bureaucracy,” said Mr. Proctor.

On top of the stable gas tax revenue, the federal government has provided record levels of highway support to states, just under $1 billion a year since 1999 for Ohio.

The increased funding has rapidly advanced spending on new construction, including the already financed I-280 bridge over the Maumee River, which, at $200 million, is the largest single construction project ever tackled by the state.

But despite the increases, ODOT maintains it will run out of money for new construction after 2005 because of inflationary increases in the cost of construction and because of the increasing maintenance and repair demands on an aging, increasingly congested highway and bridge infrastructure.

Although 35th in the nation in geographic size, Ohio has the fourth-highest traffic volume.

That means highway projects such as the new U.S. 24 that have advanced to the point of construction would not see concrete without additional state or federal revenue, said Mr. Proctor. A $250-million-a-year program would fund $1.9 billion in projects, including U.S. 24 and improvements to I-475. Both are in the second tier of the state's transportation priorities - those projects best positioned to move from the planning state to actual construction.

First Published March 9, 2003, 11:44 a.m.