OLYMPIA, Wash. – Democrats in the Washington State legislature have turned down a proposal from a local state senator to ditch the gas tax amid record high prices.
Ferndale Republican Simon Sefzik tried but failed to get a floor vote on a Republican-sponsored bill that would suspend the state gas tax until the end of the year.
The bill would replace the tax with a transfer of $1.3 billion from the general fund to the state transportation fund.
Sefzik and other Republican senators say surplus tax revenues make this possible.
A Senate democratic leader tells KING 5 that removing the gas tax wouldn’t help consumers and would only benefit oil companies.