HB 1385-FN-A – AS INTRODUCED
2012 SESSION
03/05
HOUSE BILL 1385-FN-A
AN ACT reducing the rate of the road toll during the 2012 Memorial Day weekend.
SPONSORS: Rep. B. Murphy, Rock 18; Rep. Ward, Rock 13; Sen. Sanborn, Dist 7
This bill reduces the rate of the road toll from $.18 per gallon to $.05 per gallon during the 2012 Memorial Day weekend.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
12-2471
03/05
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twelve
AN ACT reducing the rate of the road toll during the 2012 Memorial Day weekend.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Road Toll; Rate Reduced. For the period beginning on May 26, 2012 and ending May 28, 2012, the road toll imposed pursuant to RSA 260:32 shall be $.05 per gallon.
2 Effective Date. This act shall take effect upon its passage.
LBAO
12-2471
10/24/11
HB 1385-FN-A - FISCAL NOTE
AN ACT reducing the rate of the road toll during the 2012 Memorial Day weekend.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The Department of Safety states this bill will decrease state highway fund revenue by $874,739 in FY 2012, and will decrease state highway fund expenditures and local revenue by $104,969 in FY 2013. There will be no fiscal impact on county revenue, or county or local expenditures.
METHODOLOGY:
The Department of Safety states this bill reduces the rate of the gasoline road toll from $0.18 per gallon to $0.05 per gallon during the 2012 Memorial Day weekend. To determine the effect of this change in the rate of the gasoline road toll, the Department calculated the average number of gallons sold for the past three fiscal years (FY 2009 through FY 2011) for the month of May, which is 69,530,518.33 gallons. The Department then calculated the average number of gallons sold per day over this three year period, which results in 2,242,919.95 gallons per day (69,530,518.33 รท 31 days in May). Taking that daily average, the Department then projected the amount of revenue lost over the 2012 Memorial Day weekend as a result of the bill by multiplying the average number of gallons per day times the 3 days of the holiday weekend times the per gallon decrease of $0.13 proposed in the bill, which results in a decrease in state highway fund revenue of $874,739 (2,242,919.95 gallons x 3 days x $0.13 decline) in FY 2012. This decline in highway fund revenue would lead to a decline in the following year in state expenditures for local highway aid, pursuant to RSA 235:23, of $104,969 (12% x $874,739), with a corresponding decrease in local revenue.
The Department also states there are some circumstances surrounding its collection of the gasoline road toll which may conflict with the requirements of this bill making it impossible to comply with the legislation or at the very least lead to a further decline in revenue or additional costs to the state. The Department states both the computerized payment system and the alternative paper returns used to collect the gasoline road toll are designed to calculate applicable taxes and fees for an entire monthly period, so instituting a three day rate change would be impossible using either method. Further complicating the issue is the point of taxation for the road toll, which is at the distributor level. The Department states the taxable event essentially occurs when the wholesaler sells the gasoline to the retailer and it is put into the underground tanks of the retailer, but the tax is paid by the wholesaler. The Department states it is unlikely that the retailer would receive the benefit of the reduced tax rate, as the wholesalers would typically make their deliveries to the retailers in the days leading up to the holiday weekend, before the reduced rate was implemented, with the retailer selling that fuel to consumers over the course of the holiday weekend but not receiving any more deliveries from wholesalers during that time. The Department states a possible method for granting this temporary reduction under the system currently in place would be a one-time retail dealer refund, however this method relies on the honor system since the Department has no method for tracking gallons sold by retail dealers, nor does it employ the staff and resources to verify the accuracy of the retail refund request. In addition, the Department also states the split tax rate for May 2012 may cause complications, which may have a fiscal impact of an unknown nature regarding the state’s participation in the International Fuel Tax Agreement (IFTA), as well as increased costs from the changes which would need to be incorporated into both the IFTA forms and the state’s off-road fuel tax refund forms.