Gas tax mini-freeze, revenue diversion and competition from Indiana — what does it all mean? – Daily Herald*

Instead of cutting the sales tax on gasoline, lawmakers voted to divert $150 million of the extra revenues to the general fund to balance the budget. “What the budget did was essentially acknowledge that those sales tax revenues have been running much higher than initially expected because they directly move with fuel prices,” said Paula Worthington, a senior policy adviser with The Civic Foundation. “Some people call it the ‘dirty little secret’ around inflation and state tax revenues,” said Worthington, noting that when prices rise, sales tax revenues follow.