Governor Eric Holcomb says he doesn't support shifting sales tax on gasoline dollars to help pay for roads.
The House Republican proposal shifted all sales tax on gasoline dollars to pay for roads. That's about $300 million a year. Senate Republicans eliminated that shift. Holcomb agrees, saying he doesn't prefer to move those dollars.
When asked why, Holcomb said, "Because I don't prefer it."
"I prefer to put together a long term, sustainable…which I think we can through the plans that both the House and Senate have put forward. And I think there's enough similarity there that we can do it without it," the governor says.
Without that money, though, the current proposals don't generate enough funding to meet long-term needs – at least, without tolling. Holcomb says tolling needs to be part of a discussion that happens seven years from now.
"We're going to have to make some choices and we're going to have to ask ourselves, do we want to raise taxes more or do we want to entertain tolling?" Holcomb says.
Holcomb also opposes raising the cigarette tax this session, which House Republicans pushed to help fill a budget hole created by the sales tax on gas shift.