OLYMPIA, WA – Washington state drivers would pay more at the pump if the state Senate gets its way.
The Legislature’s upper chamber on Saturday approved a transportation budget and an accompanying funding package that would raise the tax – already among the highest in the nation – by 6 cents per gallon to 55.4 cents. Washington’s gas tax is 49.4 cents per gallon, the third-highest in the nation, behind California and Pennsylvania.
The tax would take effect July 1 and then rise by 2% annually to account for inflation starting the following year.
The budget package is meant to close a roughly $1 billion budget gap in Washington’s transportation budget between 2025 and 2027. It’s projected to raise more than $10 billion over six years. Beyond the state gas tax hike, other elements of the budget include increased registration fees for electric vehicles and hybrids and a shift of 0.3% of the state’s sales tax – approximately $800 million a year – to the transportation budget.
“Responsible spending is our top priority, and we’re always looking for ways to maximize the transportation dollars we already get. But we can’t simply cut our way out of the budget crisis we’re in,” Sen. Marko Liias, D-Edmonds, chair of the Senate Transportation Committee, said in a news release. “A barebones, all-cuts budget is unacceptable when we’ve made promises to Washingtonians. We need to finish projects, preserve our infrastructure, and make our roads safer — Democrats and Republicans agree we can only do that if our budget includes new revenue.”
At least some Republicans agreed.
“This Senate transportation budget proposal was developed with collaboration and compromise from both sides,” explained Sen. Curtis King, R-Yakima, the ranking Republican on the committee, and one of four Republicans who joined Democrats in voting for the budget and funding package. “Chairman Liias welcomed our input and kept his word that this would be a truly bipartisan budget. There are parts of it that our side doesn’t like, and there are parts that the Democrats don’t like. But we worked hard and worked together to create a plan that we hope will allow our state to finish long-awaited highway projects, improve safety on our roads and highways, and get our ferry system back on track.”
Washington motorists wouldn’t fare any better under the House of Representatives, which is mulling a budget package that would raise the state gas tax by 9 cents, indexed to inflation.
Potential state gas tax hikes are occurring in the context of the increasing popularity of electric vehicles and the improved fuel efficiency of other vehicles. These factors are causing a decline in gas tax revenue, prompting lawmakers to consider alternative funding methods, including a potential road usage charge.
Bills proposing a per-mile driving fee made some noise earlier this session, but they don’t appear to have enough support to move forward.
The House and Senate must reconcile their transportation budgets to reach a final agreement before the end of the legislative session on April 27.
Source: Brett Davis, The Center Square, “WA Senate passes transportation package that would hike state gas tax by 6 cents,” April 1, 2025.
