Last week, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey announced her Rebuild Alabama Infrastructure Plan that proposes raising the state’s gas tax 10-cents to pay for infrastructure improvements.
Here are the top 5 things you need to know about the proposed tax increase:
- Current gas tax rate: Alabama’s current state gas tax is 18 cents per gallon.
- Proposed gas tax rate: Ivey’s proposal includes a plan that increases a total of 10 cents over the course of three years, as follows: up 6 cents effective October 1, 2019, up another 2 cents, effective October 1, 2020, and up another 2 cents, effective October 1, 2021.
- Last time the gas tax increased: 1992. Since then there have been several proposals to increase the gas tax, but they’ve yet to pass the State Legislature.
- Number of votes needed to pass the tax in the House: Should Ivey call a special session on the gas tax, a simple majority will be needed to pass the proposal. With 105 members of the State House of Representatives, just 53 members need vote in support of it.
- Total cost of the proposal to the average driver: $55 a year, or $4.58 a month. That’s according to the Alabama Transportation Institute based on 12,000 annual miles and 22MPG.
