Arkansas governor opposes tapping general revenue for roads

LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas’ governor said Tuesday he’d “vigorously oppose” any highway funding measure going before voters next year that calls for tapping into general revenue, such as taxes collected from vehicle sales, to pay for road improvements.

Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson cautioned state highway leaders and others looking at putting a highway initiative on next year’s ballot that tapping into general revenue would threaten other needs in the state’s budget.

“I will vigorously oppose any plan that taps additional revenue from our general stream. There’s some discussion of ‘well, we ought to divert sales tax on new and used cars or batteries over to highways,‘” said Hutchinson, who said such a move could create a hole between $100 million and $300 million in Arkansas’ budget. “Those are funds that are necessary for education, for public safety and for all the other needs of our state, and so I say, no we cannot divert that general revenue stream.”

Hutchinson’s comments came a day before the state highway commission is expected to discuss potential ballot proposals for highway funding. The panel voted in June to pursue such a ballot measure after a highway plan failed in the state Legislature. The panel has not endorsed a specific proposal, but ideas floated in June included some that combined a tax increase with diverting auto-related tax revenue to highways.

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