Seeking Money for Aging Infrastructure, Obama Looks at Tax Changes. [View all]

[elleng]

President Obama on Wednesday will call on Congress to overhaul corporate and business taxes as a way to pay for a four-year, $302 billion transportation bill to repair and replace the nation’s aging roads, rails, bridges and tunnels.

Mr. Obama will travel to a renovated transit hub in St. Paul to pitch the plan publicly. On Tuesday, the president made the case for the funding privately to House Speaker John A. Boehner in an hourlong Oval Office meeting, according to officials with knowledge of the conversation. . .

New legislation to pay for transportation is a priority for both parties because the nation’s Highway Trust Fund is nearing insolvency. Anthony Foxx, the transportation secretary, has said the trust fund could begin “bouncing checks” by this summer. That would force a halt to construction projects around the country, officials have said.

But differences remain unresolved about how to pay for the work.
Mr. Boehner, who has said that Republicans are eager to overhaul and simplify the corporate tax system, nonetheless expressed skepticism to Mr. Obama on Tuesday about the president’s proposal to finance transportation spending with business tax changes, officials said. Mr. Obama argued that the transportation bill will create jobs and help increase economic growth, they said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/27/us/politics/Obama-seeks-money-for-aging-infrastructure.html?hp