The state of the State By DIANE ROSS

WHEN the new legislature was seated in January, the new speaker of the House called for the formation of a new coalition of Chicago Democrats and suburban Republicans to solve an old problem: financing the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA). By June, however, when the spring session was half over, the only new coalition that had been formed was the product of lobbyists, not legislators. And the issue was financing highways, not mass transit.

Last spring the formidable Illinois Railroads Association (IRA) aligned three powerful allies on the highway taxes issue: the Taxpayers' Federation of Illinois, the League of Women Voters of Illinois and the Illinois Environmental Council. Together they formed a new transportation coalition called EPTOW (an acronym for their slogan "Everyone Pays Their Own Way") to push their alternative to Gov. James R. Thompson's proposal to raise the highway taxes truckers pay. It will cost an estimated $50 million a year to repair the damage the truckers will cause to the highways when the state weight limit is raised from 72,380 to 80,000 pounds, the national level, on July 1. Under EPTOW's proposal, truckers would pay $50 million a year in a new weight-distance tax, from 2 to 5 cents a mile depending on a truck's weight, to repair the damage Truckers' license plate fees would drop though. Under Thompson's proposal truckers would pay another $30 million a year in higher diesel fuel taxes and higher license plate fees.

Thompson's proposal, says EPTOW, isn't fair. It's the average drivers — of the cars, not the trucks who would pay the remaining $20 million a year required for repairing the damage, particularly those who drive small diesel-fueled cars. The governor's proposal would give the truckers a tax break that amounts to a public subsidy.

The idea of a weight-distance tax is hardly new. The railroads have been pushing for a weight-distance tax for truckers as long as the truckers have been pushing for higher state weight limits. But, says EPTOW, the concept of equity in highway taxes has been trampled in the mad stampede to expedite the recovery of the economy. Tax equity has been sacrificed to a policy designed only to create as many jobs as possible and to plug all those potholes.

The railroads, of course, would gain the most from a weight-distance tax since they are the truckers' biggest competitors in the freight business And the IRA has made no secret of the fact that it is bankrolling EPTOW. Building on its broad base as a coalition, EPTOW hired former state Rep. Doug Kane as executive director. Kane, 43, of Springfield, a Democrat who represented the old 50th District, was widely recognized as one of Illinois' best-educated lawmakers — he holds a doctorate in economics — when he served in the House from 1975 through 1982. Kane didn't run for reelection in 1982 since reapportionment of legislative districts left him with little chance of winning. Spokesmen for EPTOW's members include such widely respected lobbyists as George Camille for the railroads, Doug Whitley for the taxpayers, Joan Morton for the voters and Ken Mitchell for the enviromentalists.

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From the beginning, however, the biggest problem EPTOW faced was one of perspective, not politics. Whitley said the issue of the diesel-fuel tax versus the weight-distance tax was just another "circus side show" to reporters, who were more interested in "all the political pizzazz that makes a story." Whitley said, "The media paints a picture of the trucks versus the trains; the motoring public was left out. They're misleading the public by focusing the attention on the industries rather than on the schmoes who have to pay."

EPTOW has raised as many questions about coalitions as it has about highway taxes. Will EPTOW succeed in passing a weight-distance tax? Will there be life for EPTOW after the issue? Will EPTOW succeed in resurrecting the question of equity in connection with highway taxes?

By June 1 EPTOW held out little hope of defeating Thompson. "The Illinois Department of Transportation [IDOT] did a good job of selling his tax increase as a jobs bill," Camille said. He said all the IDOT had to do was provide a list of the highway projects that would be scheduled in each legislator's district.

EPTOW's future apparently depends on whether 1983 turns out to be the year for major changes in the structure of highway taxes or not. "I think it depends on what eventually comes out of the legislature," Kane said. "If we don't get a weight-distance tax, I think our plan would be to keep the issue alive. . . .

"This is a question of maintaining the long-run viability of the railroads. This is a national issue for them."

Camille agreed: "It's been a real long struggle for us. . . . The railroads have formed coalitions in other states."

There are two things that could keep the issue of diesel-fuel taxes versus weight-distance taxes alive over the next year or so, Camille said. Under the governor's proposal, the IDOT would do a cost allocation study by July 1, 1984, analyzing who pays for what. Also the truckers could seek even higher state weight limits.

Whitley disagrees on EPTOW's future. "I don't think there will be life for EPTOW afterwards," he said, describing the group as a single issue coalition. Whitley said, "I don't think the chance comes along for major change [in the structure of highway taxes] very often, maybe a little nickel and dime stuff, but no major change."

EPTOW members are equally divided on what they say is the main question: resurrecting the equity issue. "We have done everything we set out to do in terms of giving the issue visibility," Kane said. Camille said EPTOW has succeeded with editors, if not reporters. "But," he said, "we just haven't had a serious challenge to the numbers in this bill [governor's proposal]. There's been very little scrutiny of this [governor's] highway tax bill; it's not like the income tax bill."

Whitley is more cynical: "I don't think it's worked, only partially. The motoring public still hasn't made the connection. The public has to pay for it before they will see the effect."

Camille, Whitley and Kane agree, however, that a backlash to the passage of the Thompson proposal may be EPTOW's best bet for a future. "There will be a lot of animosity when we all get the renewals for our automobile registrations. Whether that will translate into a legislative backlash, I don't know," Camille said.

In any event, EPTOW would be the only way to keep the highway taxes issue alive, its members say. Up to now the only major coalition of transportation lobbyists was the Illinois Transportation Improvement Council, which serves the interests of the local contractors who do the work when the state builds the roads and bridges. The council, which supports the governor's proposal, is considered an unbeatable combination since it represents business, labor and all levels of local government. "Most of these people spend highway dollars," Kane said. "The contractors are the ones that are going to make a profit from any tax increase. They don't really care who pays."

July 1983 | Illinois Issues | 5