MONTPELIER, Vt. -
Vermont drivers could be forced to
pick up the tab to close a multimillion dollar state transportation budget gap.
One solution being talked about at the
Statehouse calls for an 8-cent increase in the state's gas tax. The spike would
put Vermont's gas tax 15 cents higher than what folks in neighboring New
Hampshire pay.
Joe Choquette of the Vermont Petroleum
Association says the move would deliver a major blow to businesses along the
border.
"You might as well
give away the keys to every gas station along the border competing with New
Hampshire, it's just too great a deficit for us to be able to compete,"
Choquette said.
Right now, Vermont's
transportation budget gap sits between $30 million and $35 million.
The Shumlin administration
has proposed reducing the gas tax but adding a 4 percent sales tax on gas
purchases to raise the extra revenue.
