Gov. Scott Walker has indicated he won’t support increasing Wisconsin’s vehicle registration fee, even though the Legislature’s top Republicans say they’re open to it.
Walker’s proposed transportation budget borrows $1.3 billion to pay for roads, a move that’s been roundly panned by lawmakers from both parties. That list includes Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Republican Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, who both said this week they’d consider raising the vehicle registration fee. Vos said it could be used to reduce borrowing.
Asked about that prospect Thursday, Walker all but ruled it out.
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“Unless it’s offset somewhere else, which I don’t see any realistic path to that, to me, I think adding new revenues, whether it’s in a gas tax or a vehicle registration fee, goes at odds with what I said during the campaign,” Walker said.
As recently as last December, Walker said he was open to the idea of raising registration fees, but didn’t include it in his budget.
If lawmakers make no changes to Walker’s budget, the Department of Transportation says that by 2017, nearly 23 cents of every $1 of transportation revenue would be spent on debt service.
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