Dean calls for local-option gas tax

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Karl Dean speaks to a business group in Nashville on March 20, 2018. (Erik Schelzig, Tennessee Journal)

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Karl Dean is calling for counties to be allowed the the option of adding a local surcharge to gas taxes collected by the state. Dean says much of those extra taxes would paid for by visitors and that the revenues would allow counties to fund specific infrastructure and transportation programs.

“Unlike my opponent, I believe passing the IMPROVE Act was the right move for Tennessee,” Dean said in a statement. “But we can’t rest; we can’t sit still. As governor, I’ll work with legislators to make transportation infrastructure an even better tool to add jobs and increase access to high-quality education and health care.”

Here’s the release from the Dean campaign:

NASHVILLE, Tenn.  — Democratic gubernatorial candidate Karl Dean called today for a stronger statewide investment in infrastructure to ensure that every county can make faster progress each year toward meeting its transportation needs. 

Dean, a former two-term mayor of Nashville with a record of finding solutions to tough problems, said the state needs to expand on the IMPROVE Act, the 2017 law that increased funding for Tennessee road improvement projects for the first time in nearly thirty years. 

“Unlike my opponent, I believe passing the IMPROVE Act was the right move for Tennessee,” Dean said. “But we can’t rest; we can’t sit still. As governor, I’ll work with legislators to make transportation infrastructure an even better tool to add jobs and increase access to high-quality education and health care.” 

“Building Tennessee’s Tomorrow,” a report published by the Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations in January 2018, found the state needs more than $24 billion in transportation improvements by 2021. Hamilton and Knox counties need more than $3.5 billion in improvements combined, while Shelby County alone needs more than $3 billion, Madison County needs nearly $400 million and Williamson County needs more than $700 million. 

To start addressing those and other sizable gaps throughout the state, Dean proposes creating a dedicated funding source by enabling counties to implement a local-option gas tax — much of which would be paid by visitors — to use on road infrastructure and their own transportation programs. 

Dean also would appoint a transportation advisory committee to study transportation issues and develop a comprehensive plan that would help citizens throughout the state, and he would name a Department of Transportation commissioner with the necessary experience and expertise. 

“Without a strong transportation network across our 95 counties, it’s much more difficult to create a future in which every Tennessean can succeed,” Dean said. “Everyone from parents to truck drivers to county commissioners has a stake in making it easier to move around our great state.”