Recommendation for Boost in Gas Tax Faces Tough Reception on Hill (40 cents more tax/gal??)

[babylonsister]

Recommendation for Boost in Gas Tax Faces Tough Reception on Hill

A bipartisan commission created under the 2005 highway law released its long-awaited report Tuesday, recommending an increase of up to 40 cents per gallon in the federal gasoline tax and renewing a contentious debate in Congress.

The collapse of an interstate highway bridge in Minneapolis last Aug.1 spurred a new sense of urgency among lawmakers grappling for ways to finance modernization of the nation’s aging infrastructure.

House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman James L. Oberstar , D-Minn., is sympathetic to raising the gas tax. But President Bush and GOP lawmakers fiercely oppose increasing the 18.4 cents per gallon federal tax, which has not changed since 1993..

Congress is unlikely to address the issue in an election year, especially in light of projections that gasoline prices will top $3.50 a gallon this summer.

The 12-member commission, called the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission, recommended almost doubling the federal gasoline tax over the next five years, boosting it in increments of 5 cents to 8 cents per year. The rate would be indexed thereafter to the rate of change in construction costs, according to an executive summary of the report.

Commissioner Jack L. Schenendorf, an attorney at Covington & Burling who concentrates on transportation legislation, said the gas tax increase was only one of many funding proposals considered but is the best short-term solution to jumpstart an overhaul of the nation’s infrastructure.

“Gas taxes are hard politically to raise. They aren’t popular with people when they don’t know how it is being spent,” he said. “But there’s no magic bullet. It costs money.”

The commission said the next highway bill, which Congress will tackle in 2009, should mandate a national study into a transition to a fee based on the number of miles that vehicles are driven.

http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?parm1=5&docID=cqmidday-000002655434

[Hydra]

Oh, so they'll raise the taxes and still not fix the infrastructure?

That sounds about right.

[walldude]

1. Europeans have been paying near 4 bucks a gallon for years

why should we be any different?

[LanternWaste]

5. Because we don't have a viable mass transit system in place

Because we don't have a viable mass transit system in place. Once/if we do, I'm all for raising taxes on gas, however in places like TX, no car usually means no means of getting to your job.

As I understand it, the Europeans have a wonderful mass transit system(s?).

[DangerDave921]

2. A Tax HIKE???

I thought the price was already too high! And now the government wants to raise the price and take even more of our money?

So how is it evil for the oil companies to make an obscene profit, but it's A-OK for the government to arbitrarily take another $.40 per gallon?!

[taterguy]

13. Because the government spends so much money building and maintaining roads

The costs of our automotive infrastructure far exceed the revenues that the government gets from taxes that are only paid by motorists.

The difference is made up people who may or may not choose to use automobiles for transportation and there's no reason they should be subsidizing others bad habits.

[DangerDave921]

16. Correction

I don't believe for one second that the government doesn't raise enough money currently to deal with infrastructure. They're just spending it on other stupid things.

Driving is a bad habit? Yeah, I have this bad habit of going to work every day.

[taterguy]

17. I go to work every day too

There's no law that says you have to drive to get there.

And your belief that taxes paid exclusively by motorists cover the cost of roads is false. Go read a budget. Just in my small town alone the amount of money from general revenue that goes to roads and other automobile services is several million dollars a year.

[DangerDave921]

20. You're right

I could walk about two hours each way to work. Or I could ride my bike, even in winter, and be a sweaty mess when I get there. Nice ideas! Now how about when I have to go around the state for depositions or attend court? Hmmmm.

I didn't say anything about taxes paid exclusively by motorists. I said the government has plenty of money from the general revenue to handle road maintenance. They just choose to spend it on other things.

[KatyaR]

18. No, no, no, you're confused--

they pass the tax breaks on your income tax and then raise consumption taxes on everything you buy! That way they can say they lowered taxes, and people seem to care less about higher prices (although I think that's changing).

This is ridiculous. Soon none of us will be able to purchase anything. Our money will be worth nothing (not that it's worth much now).

[DangerDave921]

19. LOL

You got it nailed! Hey I get a 3% reduction in income taxes, while consumption taxes and tolls go thru the roof!

There's a stretch of I-95 in my state (Maryland) that has a $5 toll on it. Not a bridge, not a tunnel -- just regular plain old road. And suddenly you have to pay $5 to continue driving on it. I want to see how much money the state makes just on that toll plaza alone.

[dmallind]

3. The days of pain-free choices are over

We have to face up to teh fact that no matter how much we could conceivably in any realistic scenario raise taxes on the rich or corporations or cut defense, we are not going to see great progress on much needed things like infrastructure without pain for many or all. Even if we forget political reality and raise corporate taxes what will that do to inflation? No, pain there will be. It would be better if it were applied to those who can take it more than those who cannot - but nobody can escape pain.

[Historic NY]

4. F....them raise gas even higher, food prices are rocketing...

up at least 5.4%. Tell congress to give yup thier raises and free taxpayer funder transport. Do these idiots know whats happening out in the real world. I'd bet not one even knows what a gallon of milk costs.

[DangerDave921]

6. Some days

I really can't F'ing stand our leaders. I don't care what party or political leanings.

Most of them live lives that are divorced from everyday reality. They have posh offices, chartered planes, free trips courtesy of lobbyists, a dozen or more support staff, perks out the wazzoo, and they all start running for re-election as soon as they're elected. And they oh-so-casually decide they'd like another chunk of my money.

No one here talks about a huge issue: The amount of SPENDING that our government does. I don't see why our government can't have oversight and accounting just like any other business. Pork runs D.C.

[Historic NY]

14. They fail to realize the pork is our money not theirs........

its called the reallocation of wealth, our wealth designed to get them re-elected by looking good.

[DangerDave921]

15. Yup

Everyone screams about pork, unless it's their own congressman/senator doing it. Then it's all fine and dandy. So the system will never get fixed because the people don't want it fixed. And the politicians will never give up that power of being able to spend other peoples' money to make themselves look good.

[predfan]

7. road taxes based on milage driven instead of collected at the pump

is to get ahead of alternative fuels........a guy in town is fitting a used Neon with an electric engine and batteries, tells me he'll have about $3500 in the car with a range of about 40 miles per charge.........now, for about another $3000 he can install solar panels, he says, with enough capacity to recharge the car on sunny days. I don't know if he can or not, but there's damn sure nobody in DC telling me anything resembling what he is. God, we need some leadership.

[predfan]

8. correction.......not solar panels on the car, as my statement looked.........

solar panels and batteries on his garage. solar panels charge batteries at home durning sunny days, garage batteries charge car batteries over night. Sorry for any confusion.

[Xithras]

9. I fully support mileage taxes, especially if applied progressively.

i.e., the more you drive, the higher your tax rate. A progressive system of taxation based on miles driven rather than fuel consumed would encourage people to drive LESS. Our current system of taxation would encourage increased efficiency if they were raised, but it does little to reduce the overall number of miles driven.

As an added bonus, a mileage based system would permit the application of waivers and refunds. Extremely poor people, for example, could apply for a tax waiver if they could demonstrate a need to drive to work and that mass transit doesn't service their place of employment. Today everyone pays taxes on fuel, irregardless of their ability. Tax exemptions could also be applied to trucking companies delivering food and other essentials, and other portions of the transportation industry carrying out essential functions within our economy. Today those companies pay taxes on all of the fuel they burn, and those taxes are passed on to the consumer in the form of higher food prices.

A mileage based system is fairer to low-income workers, discourages commuting, encourages the use of mass transit, and is better for the economy. The only downside is the difficulty involved in getting a transportation measurement system in place.

[Champion Jack]

10. Why don't they rescind the tax breaks and subsidies to big oil?

[SammyWinstonJack]

11. ...

:rofl: When Hell freezes over and not a minute sooner. :evilgrin:

The rich don't care if the price/gal goes up up and away.

They can afford it, courtesy of their not needed tax cuts for the past 6 years.

And big oil isn't worried at all. :evilgrin:

[dkofos]

12. How about this for a novel idea. Use the freakin gas tax that we pay

now for its intended purpose (maintenance and new construction)
or quit collecting it.

[deacon]

21. Seriously. can these 'solutions' get any dumber? I mean, why in hell would that be a solution for

anyone...bilking more out of a consumer fixes this crisis...how incredibly moronic.

[DangerDave921]

22. Exactly!

I've seen reports that the oil companies make maybe 8 or 9 cents per gallon in profit. Yet the government can just decide to take as much as it wants and that is supposedly fair? If 9 cents per gallon profit is "obscene" what do you call 40 cents per gallon?