Schoesler: Proposed Transportation Budget Bad For Ag

Last week, senators in Olympia held their first hearing on a proposed transportation package.  Minority leader senator Mark Schoesler says the current proposal will not be good for Washington’s farming community.

“A $15 a ton carbon tax, which would be about 15 cents a gallon for fuel, with no roads included.  Increased sales taxes on auto parts."

Schoesler noted the proposal also has several consumer issues that he finds troubling, and when it’s all said and done, the proposal, as he put, it is nothing more than a package to build a new bridge between Vancouver and Portland.  The Ritzville Republican added the Ag community needs to watch the fight over transportation very closely.

“Ag groups that visited me this week, none of whom support a carbon tax, were unimpressed.  But the more radical environmentalists, said this mega deal wasn’t big enough.  So, the sponsor found himself with no support from the radical environmentalists or agriculture,” Schoesler noted.

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