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Beshear Seeks Deal To Stabilize Declining Kentucky Gas Tax

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Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear says he is asking lawmakers to pass a bill in the final two days of the legislative session that would stabilize the state’s declining gas tax.

The state tax on gasoline is scheduled to drop 5.1 cents per gallon on April 1, a $150 million hit to the state’s road fund. Kentucky’s gas tax is tied to the average wholesale prices of gas and is adjusted every three months.

But proposals to stop the tax from decreasing or to limit how much it could fall have run into opposition in the Republican-controlled state Senate. The state’s gas tax increased 9.3 cents per gallon from 2009 to 2014. Combined with a decrease in January, April’s decline would result in a decrease of 9.4 cents in just three months.