Dom Giordano Speaks To Gov. Corbett About Increase In Gas Prices Under Proposed Bill

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – During the "The Governor Tom Corbett Show" on Tuesday, the governor discussed Senate Bill One with WPHT's Dom Giordano.

Under Senate Bill One (SB1), which passed in the Pennsylvania Senate on June 5th, the cost of gasoline would go up 28.5 cents per gallon over the next three years.

Corbett says the state needs revenue for infrastructure.

"We definitely need revenue because we have 4,000 bridges that are structurally deficient to some degree, some are going to be posted pretty soon that you cannot travel with heavier loads," he said.  "We may have to close the bridges completely. We have 10,000 miles of roads that need significant amount of work to them.  Pennsylvania has many more miles of state roads than just about any state."

Gov. Corbett says he looks at it from a safety standpoint.

"When school starts up again in September, we'll have 1.5 million children riding in 31,000 school buses on the roads in Pennsylvania.  And God forbid something happens on the roads or bridges because we are not maintaining them," he said.

"It's been a long time, and we've created a system where because of the way we tax right now, we don't see flexibility in growth in revenue to match the growth in costs," the governor said.  "And also we countervail – we actually see less revenue because of fuel efficient cars.  The more miles you get per gallon, the less gallons you buy."

Corbett says the the determining factors of gas prices are cost accrued, refinery costs, distribution, and marketing - not taxes.

"Eleven percent of the cost at the pump are federal and state taxes – it's only 11 percent - and that all fluctuates, it fluctuates primarily on the cost of the refinery," said Corbett.

"Our bill, and the Senate bill would reduce the fixed cost at the pump by 17 percent over five years, but it would take an artificial cap off the wholesale price," said the governor.

"We'll let the marketplace determine what the price of wholesale gas is, and the percentage of the tax will go along with the wholesale price of gas.  So as the wholesale price goes up, there will be more money collected, as the wholesale price goes down, there will be less money," Corbett said.

To listen to the full interview, click here.