Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves will not support raising Mississippi’s gas tax but will support a bond bill, on one condition.
“It has to be less than $200 million,” he said.
Reeves was the speaker during Monday’s Stennis Capitol Press Corps luncheon in Jackson. Shortly after he said an increased gas tax would be a nonstarter in the Senate, Reeves said maintaining the state’s roads and bridges is vital to public safety and economic development.
Paying for that maintenance is something that should be done with the Mississippi Department of Transportation’s general fund appropriation. Reeves said nearly 75 percent of MDOT’s $900 million state appropriation went toward things other than repairing infrastructure. Decreasing that percentage would be the best way to fix dilapidated roads and bridges, not raising the state’s 18-cent-per-gallon tax on fuel.
Clarion Ledger
1/6/13
