The cost of driving in Pennsylvania is going up on two fronts in the new year.
First, the state tax on wholesale motor fuels will increase Jan. 1 -- 8 cents for gasoline and nearly 11 cents for diesel fuel. Those costs are expected to be passed on to retail prices at the pump.
A week later, tolls on the Pennsylvania Turnpike will increase for the ninth year in a row, this time by 6 percent. The change will increase the cost of a trip from Ohio to New Jersey from $48.90 to $51.85 for cash and from $34.93 to $37 for E-ZPass users, who received a discount on increases for several years to encourage more motorists to use the electronic payment system.
The state's gasoline tax, the highest in the country, will increase from 50.3 cents a gallon to 58.2 cents a gallon while diesel goes from 64 cents a gallon to 74.7 cents.
After years of the capping the tax on the wholesale price of gasoline at $1.25 a gallon, the Legislature approved a complicated formula operated by the Department of Revenue to increase the cap gradually and adjust the tax as part of the Act 89 transportation funding bill in 2013. This year's tax hike follows a negligible increase for 2015 and is expected to generate $299 million for the state Department of Transportation, $267 million for state highways and $32 million for local roads.
"It's a significant increase," said Bob Astor, commercial fuels representative for Shipley Energy, a statewide fuel supplier based in York.
"It's not a horrible hit when the gas is about $2.50 a gallon, but it's a challenge for working people any time there is an increase."
Mr. Astor said it's not unusual for large trucking companies to instruct drivers to buy fuel in neighboring states before they enter Pennsylvania, and that will only increase with the higher fuel tax.
To avoid turnpike tolls from sending trucks long distance, Mr. Astor said, his firm stations trucks at terminals and uses the toll road as little as possible. Still, the company pays "considerably more each year" in turnpike tolls, he said.
Kevin Stewart, president and CEO of Pennsylvania Motor TruckingAssociation, said the agency supported the need for more money to repair roads and bridges through Act 89, but the 2017 tax increase is higher than members expected.
"We recognized PennDOT was up against it and needed more money for roads and bridges, so we supported Act 89," Mr. Stewart said. "I don't know that anyone could have anticipated the increase would be so large this year."
Some of those costs will be passed on to customers, Mr. Stewart said, but in some cases trucking firms have contracts with set prices and they will have to cover the increases themselves.
"It impacts their reinvestment into their companies," he said. "It will cause some carriers to not invest in safety equipment."
The turnpike increase marks the ninth year in a row tolls have gone up. That's partially because of major construction to rebuild some sections that have had few improvements since the toll road opened in the 1950s and partially because the agency has to pay $450 million a year to PennDOT for public transportation.
Mr. Stewart said the continuing increases are causing the kind of reaction that state Auditor General Eugene Depasquale warned about in an audit of the turnpike in September: Some drivers are avoiding the toll road whenever possible. Mr. DePasquale said the agency's financial model of continuing to increase tolls may not be sustainable, a refrain turnpike officials have used in their effort to convince the state Legislature to find another source for the yearly PennDOT payment.
"Significant increases like they have been having will continue to force folks off the turnpike and onto local roads," Mr. Stewart said.
Ed Blazina: [email protected] or 412-263-1470.
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