A conservative think tank is calling on lawmakers to make changes to counter an increase to the gas tax by making cuts elsewhere in Ohio's tax structure.
Greg Lawson with the Buckeye Institute says there is merit to the gas tax since revenue is strictly tied to infrastructure projects.
Lawson says maintaining the state’s roads and bridges is an important function of government.
“This is an area where the government does need to spend some money is in the transportation area it doesn’t seem unreasonable for us to look at some of the areas that the government probably doesn’t need to be spending much money on,” says Lawson.
He suggests cutting the income tax or the main business tax, the Commercial Activities Tax, or closing the state’s many tax loopholes.
Gov. Mike DeWine says the state is facing an impending crisis if $1 billion in extra transportation revenue, on average annually, isn’t raised over the next ten years.
