Governor Walker: Bad estimate for road costs no reason to raise taxes

WAUWATOSA — Gov. Scott Walker says he remains opposed to increasing the gas tax despite an audit last week that showed major highway projects in Wisconsin have cost more than initially estimated over the past decade.


The Republican governor said Wednesday, February 1st that now is "not the time to raise any tax" because the state is seeing a big increase in tax collections.

The state audit released last week found the Wisconsin Department of Transportation underestimated the cost of completed or ongoing projects by more than $3 billion.

The department faces a nearly $1 billion shortfall and Republicans who control the Legislature and Walker are at odds over how to fix it.

Walker says he wants to know whether the underestimate of costs was due to staff miscalculations or market forces.