Sen. Tom Tiffany (R-Hazelhurst)
Local governments would able to impose their own sales tax to pay for road maintenance and construction, under a bill being proposed at the Wisconsin Capitol.
The legislation, co-authored by state Sen. Tom Tiffany (R-Hazelhurst) and Rep. Dean Knudson (R-Hudson), would allow counties to institute a half-percent sales tax strictly for transportation purposes. Tiffany said it’s similar to what counties already have the authority to do to generate additional revenue for services they provide.
Tiffany said the approach may work better than taking action the state level. “Clearly, we need to get more revenue to road maintenance and repair,” Tiffany said. “We would like to do it in a more localized manner, rather than from the state.”
The tax would need to be approved by referendum before it could be implemented.
The bill has not yet been scheduled for a hearing in the legislature.
WXPR