NASHVILLE – Republican Gov. Bill Haslam’s State of the State address Monday will lay out an ambitious agenda that includes selling skeptics in his own party on his push to boost fuel taxes to pay for better roads.
Haslam also will highlight his accompanying plan to offset the boost by cutting several other taxes supporting government responsibilities, such as public education, because of huge revenue surpluses.
He hopes to soothe fellow Republicans’ concerns about his proposal to boost taxes by 7 cents per gallon on gas and 12 cents for diesel, part of a $296 million package to address an estimated $10.5 billion backlog of nearly 1,000 interstate, highway and road projects.
Last week, Haslam sought to set his message that the combination of transportation-related tax increases and cuts to the state’s sales tax on food and on manufacturers’ business taxes won’t change state finances’ bottom line.
“Today we’re the lowest-tax state in the country, even after we do this we will still be the lowest-tax state in the country,” Haslam told reporters in Memphis.