A 2017 gas tax increase is coming back to haunt candidates in the 2024 primary election

In a Republican primary in Indiana there are few political attacks worse than saying a candidate voted to raise taxes, but in 2024 that claim has been thrown at candidates from Statehouse-level races to gubernatorial and congressional contests.

This particular attack mostly stems from the 2017 vote that raised the state’s gas license tax by 10 cents a gallon and allowed for 1-cent increases every year through July 2024, all to beef up roads and infrastructure funding. The Indiana General Assembly in 2023 voted to extend the 1-cent increases through 2027.

Back then the legislation was a priority of Republican leadership and less controversial among the party ranks. A majority of Statehouse Republicans in 2017, and some Democrats, voted for that gas tax hike. While that vote had little impact on Republicans in 2018 state elections, it’s returned in the past couple of election cycles and in 2024 as attacks on lawmakers who supported the bill at the time.

Here’s what you need to know about the 2017 gas tax vote and this year's attack ads on the topic ahead of primary Election Day on Tuesday.

What are gas taxes?

Hoosiers actually pay two types of state gas taxes at the pump, and both contribute to infrastructure funding at the state and local levels.

One is the gasoline use tax, a sales tax that changes monthly depending on the retail price of gas. The other kind, the gasoline license tax, is what state lawmakers changed in 2017 and is set by statute.

Along with increasing the license tax by 10 cents, lawmakers also allowed for up to a 1-cent increase each year depending on the rate of inflation. Those increases were scheduled to end in 2024, but lawmakers voted in 2023 to extend them to 2027. Starting July 1 this year, this tax will be 35 cents a gallon.

Altogether, Indiana's state gas taxes ranked fourth highest in the nation in 2023, according to the Tax Foundation.

Why did lawmakers take action on the gas tax in 2017?

This tax hike was estimated to bring in an extra $1.2 billion a year to put toward roads and bridges.

There was a multi-year buildup to this decision, full of studies and task forces that determined Indiana’s funding levels were not adequate to meet its future infrastructure needs. Increasing the gas tax, which hadn’t been touched since 2003, was one of a 2016 task force’s many recommendations.

From 2017: Hoosiers will soon see benefits, costs of gas tax increase

That task force concluded that “the additional necessary cost of improving Indiana’s roads and bridges should, to the extent possible, be borne by the beneficiaries of the system, including those users who may not reside in Indiana, in proportion to use,” according to its final report.

Who supported the gas tax at the time? Who opposed it?

In an unusual reversal of typical party stances at the time, most Democrats were against raising the gas tax while Republicans supported the measure as a way to fund road construction projects. A handful of Republicans in the House and Senate still voted against the measure.

Republicans argued that the tax really amounts to a user fee, since Hoosiers would only pay it when they drive and use the roads. Democrats argued that since Republicans previously cut hundreds of millions in corporate taxes and taxes on the wealthy, this amounts to a burden shift onto lower-income Hoosiers.

The final votes before the bill was signed by Gov. Eric Holcomb were 69-29 in the House and 37-12 in the Senate.

How is the gas tax being used as an attack during 2024 primary elections?

The 2017 gas tax is appearing in political talking points and attack ads in 2024 primaries as a way to question how conservative a candidate’s Republican opponent may be, especially as inflation rates remain at higher levels than before the coronavirus pandemic began in 2020.

In the governor’s race, former Attorney General Curtis Hill has repeatedly attacked U.S. Sen. Mike Braun for his role as a “co-author” of the 2017 bill. Braun was one of five co-authors of that legislation and it was Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso, who carried the bill that year.

“The Mike Braun Gas Tax has got to go,” Hill posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, during the final Republican gubernatorial debate.

In the 6th Congressional District, a television ad from Jefferson Shreve hits Republican primary opponent state Rep. Mike Speedy, R-Indianapolis, for voting “like a Democrat” and raising taxes and fees while serving in the Statehouse.

Did the gas tax vote hurt candidates before?

Some state lawmakers prior to the 2017 vote signed a pledge with the Americans for Tax Reform not to raise taxes, but still voted in favor of the gas tax hike. A full list of Indiana candidates that signed the Americans for Tax Reform pledge can be found at atr.org/pledge-database.

There were questions ahead of 2018 statewide elections whether those gas tax votes would come back to haunt lawmakers seeking reelection, but some supporters of the increase went on to win major primary elections that year, including Braun in the hotly contested 2018 U.S. Senate primary.

The gas tax has also been a regular topic in the Republican primary for House District 45, which includes portions of southwest Indiana. In 2022, former state Rep. Jeff Ellington faced Republican Rep. Bruce Borders, R-Jasonville, after lawmakers redrew the Statehouse maps during redistricting. During that primary Borders, who voted against the 2017 increase, swiped at Ellington in a mailer for Ellington's 2017 gas tax vote.

“Suffering from high gas prices? You can thank Jeff Ellington,” the ad reads.

But in the 2024 primary rematch between the two candidates, Ellington is now attacking Borders for his 2023 vote that extended the 1-cent increases on the license tax through 2027.

In a mid-April blog post, Ellington questions why Borders did not advocate for money to be taken from the state's surplus "instead of imposing a 3-cent tax increase, per gallon, on you."

Contact IndyStar state government and politics reporter Brittany Carloni at brittany.carloni@indystar.com or 317-779-4468. Follow her on Twitter/X@CarloniBrittany.

Contact IndyStar state government and politics reporter Kayla Dwyer at kdwyer@indystar.com or follow her on Twitter @kayla_dwyer17.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana's 2017 vote to raise the gas tax is coming up in 2024 election