The following is a press release from the Pete Gutzmer for State Senate campaign. Pete is a firefighter having a second go against Matt Murphy in Illinois 27th Senate district (northwest suburbs).

Pete goes after Matt’s support for rolling back the road- and infrastructure-funding gas tax.

(I know both Pete and Matt. I’m volunteering a bit for Pete. Good guys, both.)

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Patrick Corcoran
(c)(847) 687-7579
www.VoteGutzmer.org

Proposed gas tax moratorium helps big oil, hurts state finances

Democrat Peter Gutzmer on Tuesday said the GOP proposal to lift the state gas tax is an election year gimmick meant to capitalize on the backlash over soaring gas prices.

“If you look at the facts, it’s clear this proposal is a reckless approach to a complicated problem. I have no doubt that this legislation would endanger the state budget.” Gutzmer said. “What’s worse is the Republican proposal helps big oil companies more than it does hard-working taxpayers.”

Voters will be best served by forwarding-thinking leaders who will take a comprehensive approach to the challenge that rising gas prices poses to consumers. The state should promote efforts to increase energy efficiency, expand the use clean energy and promote other new energy initiatives, Gutzmer said.

Gutzmer’s Republican opponent — Matt Murphy — is a vocal proponent of the so-called gas tax moratorium.

But, according to Pioneer Press newspapers (“Been down this road before,” The Palatine Countryside, 5/1/08), Murphy doesn’t even know the implications of the measure because he hasn’t run the numbers.

We have and the gas tax moratorium is a bad deal for taxpayers. We know this for certain because it was tried once before and the results were disastrous.

In 2000, the state passed a six-month-long gasoline sales tax holiday. Over that period, it saved motorists about $20. It cost the state more than $157 million in sales tax revenue.

According to studies by the American Road and Transportation Builders Association and the MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy, Illinois motorists saved about $.04 a gallon, but the state lost about $.075 a gallon in revenue. The balance — about $84 million — went into the pockets of the oil industry, the suppliers and retailers.

Today, Murphy’s own party estimates the state will lose $.16 a gallon in tax revenue. In other words, a new six-month gas tax moratorium could cost the state a whopping $314 million and give millions more to big oil.

Gutzmer said the GOP doesn’t even have a plan to make up for these lost funds.

“In my opponent we have a self-described fiscal conservative, a member of the Senate’s Revenue Committee, who wants to blow a $300 million hole in the state budget. How does my opponent propose to recoup those losses? More casinos? If the answer is to cut spending, what do we cut? We can’t pass legislation on the backs of our seniors, students, veterans and healthcare services and infrastructure,” he said.

“These are the questions the GOP and my opponent can’t answer because they’re not truly serious about this proposal. Let’s give the voters credit: Unlike the GOP, they realize this is bad public policy and they don’t appreciate pandering.”

Gutzmer, an Elk Grove Village firefighter who lives in Hoffman Estates with his wife and two children, is the Democratic nominee in the 27th State Senate District.

The district includes portions of Arlington Heights, Barrington, Barrington Hills, Buffalo Grove, Hoffman Estates, Inverness, Mount Prospect, Palatine, Prospect Heights, Rolling Meadows, South Barrington, and Wheeling.

For more information on Peter Gutzmer’s campaign for the Illinois State Senate, visit www.VoteGutzmer.org or call Patrick Corcoran, Gutzmer for State Senate Communications Director, at (847) 687-7579.

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