Our View

Our View

Death of tax-laden alternative highway funding bill a justi_ able homicide

With what we believe has been absolutely little regard for the financial welfare of most Arkansans, the egotistical Sen. Jimmy Hickey of Texarkana, still attempted to pull off a fast one during this recently legislative session by trying to derail Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s highway funding plan and replace it with his own.

Hutchinson promised not to burden Arkansans with higher taxes to generate enough state matching highway dollars for the next five years, and the majority of lawmakers agreed during the recently completed special session.

Despite the anti-tax sentiment, Hickey and a couple of other renegade lawmakers attempted to push through legislation that would have made fuel taxes in Arkansas higher than any surrounding state, and would have been done with little to no input from the voters.

Hickey failed attempt to convince fellow lawmakers the urgency in addressing the state’s road funding needs shied away from the fact that this isn’t anything new, and in fact, been an issue that dates back to former Gov. Mike Beebe’s time in office.

It has been repeatedly pointed out that lawmakers of that time considered the multitudes of recommendations from Gov. Beebe’s 2010 Blue Ribbon Committee on Highway Finance, many of which have been revived by members of the current committee that Hutchinson is relying upon.

This all of a sudden urgency to take drastic measures calling for record high taxation is absurd, when there are temporary and long-term recommendations already on the table.

While the majority of House and Senate members went along with Hutchinson’s recommendations, Hickey filed a bill that would have mirrored Hutchinson’s plan for just one year and then expire. Hickey made it know his bill would give lawmakers time and motivation to come up with a “more ambitious plan” (higher taxes) to address the so-called $20 billion in highway needs the state faces over the next decade.

When Hickey’s attempts failed he warned, “I will promise you that there will be more studies and more work done to come back with a more long-term funding bill that we will work on in the 2017 regular session.”

All this boils down to Hickey’s ulterior motive to simply gouge Arkansans with higher fuel prices at the pump as his so-called “long-term solution”.

Arkansas now charges a tax of 21.5 cents per gallon on gasoline and 22.5 cents per gall on diesel. Oh, Hickey will say the state has not raised its motor fuel tax since 2001 but he avoids saying they remain higher than every single stand surrounding Arkansas and to raise the tax by a whopping 8 cents per gallon on gasoline is simply highway robbery.

We say that in lieu of the fact that we have repeatedly pointed out other realistic recommendations that Hickey just simply wants to ignore.

It has become very clear that this egotistical, pompous lawmaker wants things his way or no way whatsoever. This is no different that what he did to tear down and restructure the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery in a way that he and the Department of Finance and Administration control everything whereas before it was overseen by an appointed group of citizens.

Hickey and political types like him are exactly the reason the growing number of voters are absolutely fed up with career politicians and their crony bureaucrats.

If there is going to be higher taxation at any level it should be left up to the voters to decide because they are the ones who will picking up the tab.

BIBLE VERSE

Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.

1 Peter 5:6