By Charles Oliver
June 24, 2008 10:44 am
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Tom Weldon Jr. says Georgia’s gasoline taxes hurt state residents and retailers and make the state less competitive.
“I’m interested in changing the way we tax gas,” said the Ringgold attorney.
Weldon is seeking the Republican nomination for state House of Representatives District 3. Republican incumbent Ron Forster is not seeking re-election. Weldon will face Dalton attorney Robert D. “Bob” Jenkins and Catoosa County youth minister Brad Scott in the July 15 primary. District 3 includes parts of Catoosa County and the western and southern part of Whitfield County. The winner will face Democrat Ralph Noble in the November general election.
Weldon, 39, says he’d like to see the state switch from a sales tax on gasoline to a per-gallon tax and to make that tax competitive with taxes charged by neighboring states.
“Our tax on gasoline is 44.4 cents per gallon,” he said.
By comparison, he adds, Alabama charges 38.6 cents per gallon, Florida 51.6 cents, South Carolina 35.2 cents and Tennessee 39.8 cents.
Meanwhile, he says, Georgia charges 52.6 cents on diesel, while Florida charges 53.4 cents, Alabama charges 45.6 cents, South Carolina 41.2 cents and Tennessee 42.8 cents.
Weldon says changing fuel taxes could bring business and revenue back into Georgia that the state is currently losing.
“It will increase our tax revenues because we will be competitive with states around us,” he said.
Weldon is a graduate of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and St. Thomas University School of Law. He has been practicing law for seven years, for the past four in Ringgold.
He and his wife Wendy have four children: Andy, 10, Hank, 8, Trey, 5, and Renee, 3.
Weldon says he wants to be “a good advocate” for Whitfield and Catoosa counties.
“Water is a big issue throughout the district. We may have to look into putting a reservoir in our district or close to our district,” he said. “We need to have some more reservoirs. It would be great if we could get some water from the Tennessee River.”
Weldon says that other issues that are important to him are maintaining local control of schools and protecting the rights of gun owners.
“I’m a very conservative Republican. I’m not a Bush Republican,” he said. “You can’t just tax and spend or keep spending, you’ve got to be frugal with state money. I’m pro-life.”
Weldon says he opposes illegal immigration.
“If they are illegal, they’ve got to be removed. They’ve got to be sent back, and we can work alongside the immigration service to make sure that we don’t have illegals here,” he said.
Weldon says one standard by which a representative can be judged is how effective he is in bringing grants and projects back to his district.
“But it’s not everything. There are a lot of issues like the right to life or gun rights that don’t necessarily bring projects back to the district but they do make it where people can live the way they choose to in this area,” he said.
“But I think it is a factor that should be considered because, frankly, we haven’t gotten our fair share in the past,” he said.
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