As the Legislature moves into the final days of the 2025 session, much attention will focus on an operating budget of some $70 billion for the next two years. But the transportation budget likely will have a more immediate impact on residents throughout the state.
The Senate’s proposal includes a 6-cent-per-gallon increase this year to the gas tax, followed by 2 percent increases in following years to account for inflation. The House is floating a 9-cent increase followed by inflation-related increases.
This would add to the state’s 49.4-cent gas tax, which already is the third-highest in the nation. State gas taxes range from 57.9 cents in California to 4 cents in Florida, atop the 18.4-cent federal tax that has remained unchanged since 1993.
While any increase is likely to draw pushback from taxpayers, the proposals are reasonable, prudent and necessary. Construction costs have increased because of inflation. Meanwhile, the power of the gas tax has declined because of more electric vehicles and increased fuel efficiency in vehicles that do require gas.
Fuel taxes pay for projects that are essential to the economy, enhancing the transportation of goods and services that support jobs and consumerism.
Rep. Andrew Barkis, R-Lacey and the top Republican on the House Transportation Committee, told media outlet Washington State Standard: “The House can look at this proposal and know that this is fiscally conservative. This is the proper fiscal approach. This is looking at work within our means, first and foremost.”
Indeed, the House transportation budget is more fiscally responsible than the Senate plan. The House has scaled back the scope of preferred projects, eliminating $1.3 billion worth of construction between this year and 2031. The Senate plan, on the other hand, would increase the state’s debt obligation by issuing bonds for an expansive wish list of projects.
Rep. Jake Fey, D-Tacoma and chair of the House Transportation Committee, told Washington State Standard, “They understand that sometimes you don’t get what you want when you want it, but you have to persist and there will be a payoff at one point in time for being patient.”
The transportation budget presents a conundrum for a Legislature that appears to be leaning toward an increase in the two-year operating budget — the largest sector of state spending. The legislative session is scheduled to close Sunday, and leaders are scrambling to negotiate deals that can pass both chambers and earn a signature from Gov. Bob Ferguson.
For example, lawmakers this week abandoned a bid to repeal a voter-approved limitation on increases to property tax levies. State law limits those increases to 1 percent annually, a restriction that hampers cities and counties that heavily rely on property taxes to pay for services. The limitation does not keep up with inflation, resulting in a structural deficit.
Meanwhile, various proposals have included a tax on the assets of extremely wealthy Washington residents, a plan that Ferguson has said he would reject.
The transportation budget, on the other hand, involves spending that is felt at the gas pump and projects that visibly impact all Washington residents. It is the most direct and persistent form of taxation issued by the state.
It also can be the most beneficial, with projects potentially improving everything from a simple trip to the grocery store to the movement of agricultural harvests across the state. In that regard, an increase to the gas tax would be a wise investment in Washington and its taxpayers.
