A gas (tax) explosion was diverted this week in the House Finance Committee. If you will remember, last week House Speaker Beth Harwell announced she was working on an amendment to the transportation plan. Well, Rep. David Hawk offered that amendment this week to the Finance Committee, and it would have altered the current plan considerably. The Hawk/Harwell plan proposed to remove local option, single sales tax factor, and any gas tax increase and, instead, would use sales tax from car sales to pay for transportation projects. After hours of debate and a recess for members to read the H² proposal… Rep. Gerald McCormick led the charge to defeat the amendment. Therefore, the Tax Cut Act of 2017 stayed intact and moved forward to the House floor for a vote next week. However, Rep. Hawk vowed to bring his amendment back. Hope no one brings a match.
The act passed out of the Senate Finance, Ways and Means Committee this week by a vote of 10-1 with no amendments. Rep. Joey Hensley voted against the legislation. The act is set to be heard by the full Senate next week.
