Indiana gas tax hike set following GOP extending annual jump

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — An Indiana company confirmed Tuesday that the state’s gasoline tax will go up by 1 cent this summer season underneath an annual improve that Republican legislators voted lately to increase by three years.

The inflation-related improve for the gas tax the goes towards infrastructure initiatives at present rings in at 33 cents a gallon. That may go up the utmost of a penny to 34 cents a gallon on July 1, the Indiana Division of Income mentioned.

That improve has been allowed every July since 2017 when a Republican-sponsored plan boosted it to twenty-eight cents from 18 cents. The annual improve was set to run out in 2024, nevertheless it was prolonged till 2027 with a little-discussed provision included within the state price range invoice permitted by GOP-dominated Legislature in late April and signed by Gov. Eric Holcomb.

Republicans rebuffed calls from Democrats final 12 months to droop state gasoline taxes when pump costs jumped after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The state fuel levy additionally features a 7% gross sales tax that can stand at 20.3 cents a gallon throughout Could.

Republican Home Methods and Means Committee Chairman Jeff Thompson known as extending the annual improve a “cheap” step amid rising building prices.

“It was only a compromise to take a look at these elevated prices,” Thompson mentioned over the last day of the legislative session “Additionally, as you see the quantity of collections are taking place, with higher mileage and different varieties of automobiles, it’s simply to maintain the income form of the place it’s at.”