EDITORIAL: Potential tripling of wheel taxes would be bad for Hoosiers

Some of the Republicans were against raising the tax from $20 to $25 in response to the state cutting road funding, but they did it.

In 2007 the wheel tax passed again, and it has become just another fee that people pay when they get license plates for a vehicle in Elkhart County. A story at the time called it “permanent” rather than a fee that had a set ending date.

Under House Bill 1001, just approved by the Indiana General Assembly, Elkhart County could collect $50 per vehicle and cities with more than 10,000 people could collect another $25. A motorist who lives in Elkhart or Goshen could be paying $75 rather than $25.

So far, Elkhart Mayor Tim Neese said he doesn’t want to collect the tax.

That’s good.

Elkhart County Commissioner Mike Yoder knows people hate the wheel tax, but he considers it a user fee. He’s not interested in raising the tax for another 12 months, he said. That’s also good.

Yoder is running for re-election as commissioner, and pushing for raising the tax before the May or November elections would likely hasten the end of his political career.

Setting that aside, the responses from Neese and Yoder are wise, though they are likely grateful the state gave the ability to raise more money if needed.

Perhaps this is a short-term solution by state lawmakers to free up money for needed road and bridge repairs in a session that didn’t tackle the Indiana state budget. That comes in 2017.

But it could also be a mechanism that prompts local municipalities to have to raise taxes rather than state lawmakers having to. It could be shifting the burden of collecting taxes to the local level so the Legislature isn’t raising taxes in a year when the lawmakers are up for re-election.

The wheel tax raised $2.5 million for the county in 2015. It’s a chunk of money that is more than half the $4 million the county spends to repave roads annually.

The state also added a carrot to the bill that dangles in front of cities like Elkhart. If a local municipality adopts a wheel tax, it’s eligible for more grant money from the state, said Elkhart Controller Jeff Spalding. Of the $580 million approved for road and bridge repairs in HB 1001, $150 million is for matching grants. “Eventually it could get to the point where if you do not adopt these additional taxes you won’t have any chance at future funding,” he said.

For now, the city and county are right to hold off on any wheel tax. Even in pothole season, where we all mutter at the state of our roads, Elkhart County and its cities are finding ways to fund repaving and upkeep, as well as improve them.

Gov. Mike Pence sought more funding for maintaining the state’s roads and bridges. The result is a bill that lets local communities triple the road tax someone would pay and apply for more state funding.

Perhaps this is just a way to get some roads fixed before next year’s budget session without lawmakers in Indianapolis looking like the bad guys raising taxes. It could very well be the way state lawmakers hope the potholes get filled and the bridges are maintained for the next decade or beyond.