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Another year brings hit at pump – and results too subtle

Part of the New Year noise in Pennsylvania included an 8-cent-per-gallon gasoline tax hike, which went into effect Sunday.

While it is not mandatory, the gasoline station where you fell ‘er up almost certainly passed that wholesale gasoline tax onto you, so the price at the pump probably went up 8 cents about midnight Saturday.

With that increase, drivers filling up at a Pennsylvania pump are paying about 76 cents per gallon in tax. The state’s portion of that is about 58 cents, while the federal tax is 18.4 cents per gallon and the underground storage tank fee is 1.1 cents per gallon.

The state’s gasoline tax is the reason you drive from Pennsylvania to Florida and wonder why you see the price at the pump go down, for the most part, as you drive south. Or as you drive north toward Maine, for that matter.

To be fair, Pennsylvania has the nation’s fifth-largest road network, with more road miles than New York, New Jersey and all the New England states combined.

Pennsylvania’s gas tax funds road construction and infrastructure maintenance. Is also has been used to funds state police operations, a practice we have questioned.

The latest gas tax hike was plugged in when the state Legislature passed a massive road construction bill three years ago. As part of that bill, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation  has fixed thousands of structurally deficient bridges and boosted road construction spending by about $1 billion.

Pennsylvania’s tangle of road and bridges that traverse its countless streams and creeks make for a tough system to keep up to date and the system clearly was in rundown shape when the bill was passed. Getting that system up to date – with a limited construction season due to climate – is nearly impossible. At the very least, it’s work measured in years, not weeks, days or months.

We suppose all these gas taxes are a necessary evil component to a modern transportation system in Pennsylvania. But as Pennsylvanians grind their teeth while watching the pump meter go around faster these days, we suppose they would feel a little better if all the improvements were a little more noticeable. They would like more roads to be smoother and would like to see fewer construction cones, indicating there is less work needed to be done.

The state has a national reputation for being a difficult state to travel in, mainly because of the condition of roads. Is the perception fair? Maybe. Maybe not. But it remains a perception difficult to argue with. We don’t doubt the need for the work. We don’t doubt it is getting done. We just wish it was more noticeable.

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