| abstract | - (Lebanon, PA) - In the last two days, state Senator David J. “Chip” Brightbill has twice rejected out of hand any suggestion that the state gasoline tax be suspended in order to give relief to Pennsylvania’s traveling public. At a candidate’s forum in Lebanon hosted by the League of Women Voters and at a forum hosted by the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce in Elizabethtown, Brightbill said that any suspension of the gas tax would inhibit road maintenance projects. Mike Folmer, the former Lebanon City Councilman and conservative activist who is challenging incumbent Brightbill for the Republican nomination for state Senate in the 48th district, is an advocate of a suspension of the gas tax and said there is no reason why the commonwealth couldn’t suspend the gasoline tax for two or three months. “The state is expected to experience a budgetary surplus of at least $600 million dollars this year,” Folmer said. “If the gas tax generates $80 million dollars for road work, why can’t we just use the expected surplus to fill in any revenue shortfall?” Folmer said that Brightbill’s refusal to even consider a short term suspension of the gasoline tax, which would cut gasoline prices by 31 cents a gallon, indicates that Brightbill is either ignorant of the expected surplus or just wants to keep more of the people’s money. “There’s really no excuse for ‘Chip’s’ refusal to consider a suspension of the tax,” he said. “Either he doesn’t know the state is supposed to have a surplus, which I have a hard time believing, or else he is expressing that sense of arrogance which we have come to expect of our legislature – that they know what’s better than the rest of us.” “Quite frankly, ‘Chip’ sounds more like the officials in Gov. Ed Rendell's office than a leader of the Republican Party in the state legislature.” Folmer said that a suspension of the gasoline tax would have across-the-board benefits for everyone in the state, and that it would be a great opportunity for the legislature to demonstrate that it is not out of touch with the people of Pennsylvania. Folmer noted that the high gasoline prices are not just impacting commuters but everything that is transported to consumers in the state. "Truck drivers and farmers cannot continue to absorb the increasing cost of gasoline and motor fuels," Folmer said. "Sooner or later, they are going to have to pass those increased costs onto their customers in the form of higher prices for products and services." "And the higher consumer prices go, the greater the chance inflation will begin to kick in and force down the purchasing power of the people of this state," he said. Folmer said that the suspension of the gasoline tax would also help make Pennsylvania a more attractive place for out of state visitors during the summer tourist season, as well as act as an incentive for state residents to visit attractions and sites within driving distance of home.
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