Economists recently reported that in order for North Carolina to balance the budget for next year, they must come up with an additional $1.5 billion.
North Carolinians who expected the gas tax to decrease from 29.9 cents to 27.9 cents over the summer were recently disappointed by a 34-12 North Carolina Senate vote. The vote keeps the tax at 29.9 cents. It will remain at a 29.9 cent minimum not only for the summer, but until 2011.
“I think that in this changing and slumping economy that it is riveting that the one thing our state government is focusing on is the minimum that the gas tax will be able to be lowered to from now till 2011. There are more pressing and important issues that the State government needs to deal with, like school and university funding,” states Jonathan Hubler, WCU graduate of 2008 and currently resides in Jackson County. Typically, the gas tax is adjusted every six months according to the wholesale base gas price. The decision to keep the gas tax at 29.96 cents could generate nearly $70 million in revenue for the state. This money would go to fund projects that improve our transportation systems.
