December 5, 2006

Yet More Misinformation on Tennessee's Gas Tax

An AP story on the website of The Tennessean continues to misinform the public about the state's gasoline tax. The story, headlined "Bredesen says TDOT will get all of gas tax money next year," goes on to say that the state's gasoline tax of 21.4 cents per gallon, "raises approximately $65 million in revenue - money that was diverted to the state's general fund at the start of Bredesen's term in 2003 to help balance the strapped state budget."

Actually, in fiscal year 2005-06, the state took in $605 million from the gasoline tax, and another $181 million from other "motor vehicle fuels" taxes - taxes on diesel, etc. InYou can see the tax revenue in this Excel spreed sheet from the Tennessee Department of Revenue.

In 2003, Bredesen diverted $60 million in gas tax revenue away from the state's critical transportation infrastructure needs in order to balance the state budget - and has since restored half of that. But overall the Tennessee Department of Transportation gets only about 13 cents of of the 21.4-cent per gallon gas tax. If the AP story is right that "Bredesen says TDOT will get all of gas tax money next year," that will mean a huge increase in funding for TDOT, far more than the remaining $30 million that Bredesen diverted.

Will it happen? Given the shoddy reporting on the gas tax so far from The Tennessean and now the AP, I doubt it.