NASHVILLE – A new Vanderbilt University survey shows a majority of Tennesseans are open to a state gas-tax increase for transportation needs, but the poll also reveals the upper limits of that support.
It comes as Republican Gov. Bill Haslam seeks to make a case that Tennessee’s road program, which unlike most states operates without debt and remains highly rated, needs more money to keep up the pace. So far, Haslam has been traveling uphill on the efforts, with a number of his fellow Republicans in the General Assembly balking at doing anything next year.
A majority of the 1,013 registered voters surveyed voiced a willingness to pay an additional 2 to 8 cents per gallon at the pump. The state gas tax, which hasn’t been raised since 1988, is now 21.4 cents per gallon.
Two out of every three poll respondents – 66 percent – said they are willing to pay an extra 2 cents per gallon at the pump. Thirty-three percent were opposed.
A majority – 54 percent – still said they were willing to pay an additional eight cents per gallon while 45 percent said they weren’t.