Graham on Highway Trust Fund

Submitted by ryanteaguebeckwith on October 3, 2007 - 1:33pm.
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Bill Graham thinks the Highway Trust Fund should be used for transportation.

In a press release after the Minnesota bridge collapse in August, the Republican gubernatorial candidate said the state should stop transferring money from the trust fund to the general fund.

"The Highway Trust Fund has been robbed for too many years and we must start committing every dollar raised from the gas tax to the improvement of our transportation infrastructure," he said in a statement.

He said that the bridge collapse is a "wakeup call" for North Carolina not to put off transportation infrastructure improvements.

A Graham spokesman said the automatic transfer should be stricken from state law.

"Real problems go neglected while politicians play games and waste money," Graham said. "It's time to clean up Raleigh."

Previously: Beverly Perdue says end the transfer; Bob Orr agrees; Richard Moore says not without identifying alternative sources of revenue; Moore attacks Perdue for helping create the transfer.

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Re: It's Sales Tax

Submitted by betsybarnet on October 5, 2007 - 1:05pm.

In 2001 wasn't that amount increased to $252 million? Read that in the CharO a couple of years ago.

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Re: Graham on Highway Trust Fund

Submitted by chuckt on October 4, 2007 - 8:21am.

Bill Graham is to thr republicans what John Edwards is to the democrats. A smooth talking lawyer with no elected experience.

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Re: Graham on Highway Trust Fund

Submitted by ryanteaguebeckwith on October 3, 2007 - 6:14pm.

Profanity deleted.

— RTB 

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It's Sales Tax

Submitted by bnartist on October 3, 2007 - 2:37pm.

Every dollar raised from the gas tax is committed to the improvement of our transportation infrastructure.

The amount transferred to the General Fund from the Highway trust Fund comes from the 3% tax on vehicle sales and long-term leases. The Highway Use Tax replaced the Sales Tax in 1989. To paraphrase:

Effective October 1, 1989, retail sales of motor vehicles became exempt from the 2% rate ($300 limit) sales and use tax and became subject to the 3% rate of highway use tax.

The North Carolina Highway Trust Fund was established during the 1989 General Assembly to subsidize transportation improvements. The legislation directed the taxes collected during 1990-91 to be deposited in the General Fund. Thereafter, taxes generated from the 3% rate were to be deposited in the Highway Trust Fund, and beginning in 1991-92, a specified allocation [$170 million] would be transferred from the Highway Trust Fund to the General Fund.

The maximum tax for commercial vehicles (vehicles with a weight greater than 26,000 pounds) is $1,000.00. All other vehicles are charged 3% with no ceiling.

Proceeds from the 3% rate are approximately $580 million annually. Transfers exceeding $170 million were made in 03, 04, 05, 06. These excess transfers were addressed in this year's budget and should rightly be returned.

Any discussion of rescinding the transfer should include a review of the origin of these funds, the cap on heavy commercial vehicles which greatly impact our roads and replacement of the Sales Tax revenue which previously went directly to the General Fund.

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