To help fund roads, WA lawmakers eye fee on delivery of online purchases

A fee tacked onto the delivery of many retail and online purchases could generate millions of dollars a year for maintaining city and county roads in Washington.

State lawmakers now must decide if it’s an option worth pursuing as they, and local government leaders, wrestle with increasing costs of transportation upkeep and decreasing collections from the gas tax — the primary source of money for road work.

“Clearly our cities, our counties and our state have transportation challenges with too many potholes and too much traffic,” said Sen. Marko Liias, D-Edmonds, following Tuesday’s meeting of the Joint Transportation Committee, a bipartisan and bicameral panel that he chairs.

“This is one of a number of things we’re looking at to come up with the resources to make the needed investments,” said Liias, who is also chair of the Senate Transportation Committee.

https://washingtonstatestandard.com/2024/06/19/to-help-fund-roads-wa-lawmakers-eye-fee-on-delivery-of-online-purchases/