NEWS

GOP plank calls for raising the gas tax

Jennifer Jacobs
jejacobs@dmreg.com
A gas tax increase has long been controversial in Iowa.

A call for a gas tax increase is one of the proposed new planks in the Republican Party of Iowa's platform - a stance that would represent a major shift if it's adopted next month.

The current state platform says: "We oppose any increase in fuel taxes."

The Des Moines Register obtained a copy of the proposed new one, which says: "We support a fuel tax increase solely allocated to the Rural Road Fund."

The proposal likely reflects Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad's influence in a GOP power struggle within Iowa. The tentative state platform was crafted by the 16 Republican activists elected to the state platform committee. They met on May 10 to review the planks submitted from the four districts. The document faces a vote at the state convention on June 14.

State transportation officials have warned that Iowa has been falling behind by about $215 million annually to meet the most critical needs on Iowa's road system.

But the gas tax has created friction within the GOP. When Branstad said earlier this year that he wouldn't veto a 10-cents-per-gallon gas tax hike that appeared to be gaining momentum in the GOP-led Iowa House, then-Iowa GOP Chairman A.J. Spiker led the public opposition.

The 10-cent hike eventually failed, as did an alternative plan that would have imposed a 5 percent wholesale tax on gasoline. Most of the focus was on Republicans in the Iowa Senate, where GOP lawmakers balked at raising taxes, particularly in an election year.

In reaction to Spiker's opposition to increasing the fuel tax, Branstad in February told reporters it would be up to state convention delegates this summer to decide if they agreed Spiker's direction was one the party should embrace.

Last month, there was a shakeup in the leadership within the Iowa GOP, which runs party headquarters in Des Moines and guides party business statewide. All winter, activists who back Branstad led an aggressive push to get more mainstream Republicans to turn out to the neighborhood and county meetings where the people who influence party business are elected. In late April, the new crop of activists ousted liberty conservatives from power. Spiker, who is part of the liberty movement, resigned earlier this year.

The business Republicans and evangelical conservatives who will dominate the state convention will decide what's in the platform, which is meant to be the Iowa GOP's public declaration of principles on issues they believe must be addressed.