Newsmakers: Transportation Funding Options
Wisconsin faces a 10-year shortfall in paying for its transportation needs of about $6 billion, Craig Thompson estimated in a Newsmakers show today. Executive director of the Transportation Development Association, Thompson is a member of the WisDOT’s Finance & Policy Commission that will make January recommendations on how to close that gap. Thompson discussed raising the 30.9-cent per gallon gas tax and/or $75 annual vehicle registration fee, giving more taxing authority to regional transportation authorities, and eliminating the sales tax exemption on vehicle trade-ins, which would bring in about $916 million over 10 years. State transportation revenues will total about $1.9 billion this year; federal aid is running about $847 million per year.
