Repeal of gas tax battled by businesses

Who say the business community is for low taxes? The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports:

With its newly enacted 9.5-cent-per-gallon gas tax increase, Washington state's per-capita investment in highways this year will surpass the national average for the first time since 1996, according to the state Department of Transportation.

But if voters repeal the tax next month through Initiative 912, the state will drop below that line within a year. Within five years, per-capita highway investment would sink to levels comparable to 2000, when Washington ranked second-lowest in the nation for per-person highway spending.

Such a distinction is unambiguous, according to Steve Mullin, president of the Washington Roundtable, which represents the state's largest private employers.