The Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party will present a unified front this year in favor of a transportation funding package, including about $1 billion of increased taxes and fees.

Legislative DFL leaders unveiled a proposal Monday that dovetails closely with Gov. Mark Dayton’s plan, along with that of advocacy group Move MN: almost $600 million per year in new gasoline taxes, plus $125 million in vehicle registration fees and hundreds of millions of dollars more for metro-area mass transit.

The plan forestalls the possibility of a three-way fight among Dayton, the DFL majority in the Senate and House Republicans — who oppose any tax increase this year.

Instead, Minnesotans face two very different approaches: one comprehensive and long term with tax increases from the DFL and Move MN, and one limited and short term with no tax increases from the Republicans.

“Transportation is never a short-term problem, and there are never short-term solutions,” said Sen. Susan Kent, DFL-Woodbury. “This approach is going to make a tremendous difference as we move forward.”

Republicans said the state shouldn’t rush into a long-term fix, particularly one involving tax increases.

“I don’t think we can jump to proposals that we can fix a 20-year problem in a matter of five months,” said Rep. Tim Kelly, R-Red Wing, chairman of the House Transportation Policy and Finance Committee.

“When numbers like $6 billion, $7 billion and $8 billion get thrown around, we’re talking about a long-term structure. I agree we need to start looking at the formula from a long-term perspective, but we have a responsibility to create a budget for this biennium.”

The DFL package unveiled Sunday would raise a projected $1.1 billion per year, including about $700 million for roads and bridges. The rest would come from a sales tax increase in seven metro counties: Ramsey, Hennepin, Anoka, Washington, Dakota, Carver and Scott. Most of that money would go to mass transit, but about $40 million per year would go to bicycle and pedestrian projects.

Five of those counties already charge a 0.25 percent sales tax for mass transit — a tax that Carver and Scott counties didn’t adopt. The DFL plan would add Carver and Scott to the surtax and raise it to 1 percent.

Dayton’s proposal would increase the metro sales tax to 0.75 percent.

DFL lawmakers said their plan’s taxes are necessary to meet a growing need.

“Roads and bridges are deteriorating,” said Sen. Scott Dibble, DFL-Minneapolis. “More people are moving here, and their ability to get around is becoming increasingly hampered.”

One key aspect of the DFL plan is the gas tax, which would be a percentage tax instead of a fixed rate per gallon. Dibble, its lead author, said that’s necessary because a percentage tax is less likely to be eroded by inflation over the years.

The DFL also would increase vehicle registration fees from 1.25 percent to 1.5 percent of a vehicle’s value and increase the minimum fee from $25 to $30. Another component would let the state’s smaller towns and cities create special taxing districts for transportation projects.

Republicans have offered a more limited plan: spend $200 million from the current surplus and $550 million from reserves and efficiencies. This $750 million would be spread over four years and address immediate needs while buying time for a longer-term solution, Republicans say.

“Because of the surplus, we feel we could find $750 million worth of funding without doing any taxing,” said Kelly, the transportation committee chairman.

Though the two sides are far apart, they’re also signalling that they’re open to negotiating over their initial proposals.

The two parties “have to really let the legislative process play out,” Kelly said.

Dibble took a similar tack.

“We’re at the very start of session,” Dibble said. “I tip my hat to those who are … not closing the door completely.”

David Montgomery can be reached at 651-224-5064. Follow him at twitter.com/dhmontgomery.

GAS TAX EXPLAINED

The DFL proposal to apply a 6.5 percent tax to gasoline has been compared to a “sales tax on gasoline.” But the idea, as proposed by the Senate DFL caucus Monday, has some important differences from a traditional sales tax, where the retail price of an item is multiplied by the tax rate to produce a final cost:

— It’s a tax on the wholesale price of gasoline, not the pump price. The wholesale price is lower, excluding existing gas taxes (47 cents combined federal and state in Minnesota) and the markup from the gas station. As of last week, the average wholesale price for a gallon of regular gasoline in the Midwest was $1.261. The average price at the pump in the Twin Cities is about $1.89. The 6.5 percent tax the Senate DFL would impose would be on the $1.261, or about 8 cents — except for another provision.

— The Senate DFL includes a “floor” on the tax. No matter how low the wholesale price of gasoline falls, the gross receipts tax would take in a minimum of 10 cents per gallon. That’s about the tax revenue raised by a 6.5 percent tax at a wholesale price of $1.50 per gallon.

— A normal sales tax is calculated at point of sale on whatever the price is at that moment. So if the price of a new car rises from $10,000 to $11,000, the tax would go up, too. But the Senate DFL tax would be calculated once a year. On Aug. 1 of every year, the state would calculate the average wholesale gas price over the previous 12 months and apply the 6.5 percent tax to that. So if the average wholesale price over the previous year was $2, then the tax would be 13 cents. That would then be converted into a flat per-gallon tax and applied to the next year, starting Oct. 1. Even if gas prices skyrocketed or plummeted during the year, the gross receipts tax rate wouldn’t change until the next Oct. 1, when the new rate took effect.