The following is part of a series of real-time responses to the empty rhetoric made by Secretary Tom Wolf during tonight’s Pennsylvania Chamber Gubernatorial debate with Governor Tom Corbett.

TRANSPORTATION FUNDING AND THE GAS TAX

CLAIM:

Tom Corbett’s transportation plan raised taxes and gas prices through the roof.

RESPONSE:

Tom Corbett’s transportation plan enjoyed the bipartisan support of the legislature. Even Tom Wolf acknowledged the need to fix transportation funding and applauded the Governor and legislature for their work hours before he attacked them in one of his ads.

Tom Wolf: “I think we need to invest in the transportation infrastructure and I applaud the legislature and the Governor for actually coming through, coming up with a transportation plan that actually allows us to fix our bridges and actually move our transportation infrastructure forward.”

Editorials from around the state have praised Governor Corbett’s approach, noting Pennsylvania’s gas prices remain cheaper than many of our neighboring states and are significantly cheaper than they were last fall.

• Pump price validates Corbett’s highway bill funding plan – Williamsport Sun-Gazette, 09/14/2014
  
• Our Opinion: Low gas prices vindicate Gov. Tom Corbett’s transportation-funding strategy – Times-Leader, 09/03/2014

Tom Corbett’s transportation plan was the first comprehensive investment in decades, providing an additional $2.3 billion a year in transportation spending by cutting the flat 12-cent gas tax and eliminating an artificial market cap.

On Nov. 25, 2013, Governor Tom Corbett signed into law House Bill 1060, Pennsylvania’s most comprehensive piece of state transportation legislation in decades. This legislation will invest an additional $2.3 to $2.4 billion into transportation by the fifth year of the plan. Partial funding for the new transportation package is being derived from the elimination of the flat 12-cent gas tax and modernizing an outdated transportation financing structure through the uncapping of the wholesale, Oil Company Franchise Tax. (PennDOT)

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