Washington Gov. Inslee has decided to stand firm on the state’s excise tax that would be levied against importers of gasoline produced in Washington. The six cents tax has created issues with Governors of Oregon, Alaska and Idaho – all states with lower state gas taxes than Washington’s.
The tax paid by out-of-state consumers would generate an estimated $2 billion for Washington state transportation projects. These funds go to important projects like fixing highways and bridges, the I-5 bridge over the Columbia River between Washington and Oregon as well as building new ferries.
The state gas tax is 49.4 cents in Washington. Any importer of fuel refined in Washington that operates in state with a lower state gas tax will have to pay tax. Oregon’s state gas tax is 38.5 cents a gallon, Alaska is 8.95 cents per gallon and Idaho is 33 cents a gallon.
Democratic lawmakers, as does the Governor, are stating that everything is fair. The logic being that Washington state absorbs the high cost of carbon tradeoffs because the refineries generate air pollutants.
Alaska has produced two bills by Republicans in the State House to counter this. The states mentioned are all planning to produce bills to fight the tax. Alaska is proposing a 6-cent per pound tax on salmon and other fish caught in Alaska waters and offload by the fishing vessels at Alaska docks.
Another tax that would be assessed would be based on the length of non-Alaskan fishing boats tying up to those docks. Oregon Gov. Kate Brown called the tax unaccepted and tweeted, “Yes, you read that right: Washington wants to tax Oregonians at the pump for their transportation costs.”
