Posted on 07/28/2008 6:43:29 AM PDT by shrinkermd
Oberstar, D-Minn., said his committee is working on the next long-term highway bill. He estimated it will take between $450 billion and $500 billion over six years to address safety and congestion issues with highways, bridges and transit systems.
"We'll put all things on the table," Oberstar said, but the gas tax "is the cornerstone. Nothing else will work without the underpinning of the higher user fee gas tax."
At the very least, the gas tax should be indexed to construction cost inflation, DeFazio said.
The nonpartisan National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission concluded in a report this year that the U.S. needs to spend $225 billion annually over the next 50 years to create a highway and transit system capable of sustaining strong economic growth. Current spending, at federal, state and local levels, is about $90 billion a year.
Among other revenue-raising possibilities, the commission recommended gradually increasing the current federal fuel taxes to 40 cents a gallon.
The American Road & Transportation Builders Association is calling for a 10-cent-a-gallon raise and indexing the tax to inflation. With construction costs soaring because of competition for building materials from China and other developing nations, the tax rate would have to be about 29 cents a gallon to achieve the same purchasing power as the 18.4-cent rate imposed in 1993, the association says.
(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...
What the hell are they doing with the gas taxes they collect from us already????
God bless those dems. always wanting more from us little people. what say you nan? you stop oil from going to the spr, then you want to release it to lower prices. then you say no drilling is needed now you all want to raise gas taxes. shame on you all. all we can hope for is that mccain is elected and he will veto this travisty.
Not just gas taxes. AFTER THE ELECTION OF OBAMA, EXPECT ALL TYPES OF TAXES TO INCREASE!!!
General Revenue...
Second: If we are to pay for the construction and upkeep of our roads via a use-based tax, which I fully support, then the tax must be set to cover those needs. We do not do ourselves any favors by charging ourselves less than it costs to provide a service we all need.
Third: Governments must stop open-ended diversions of the highway use-based tax to fund pet projects that are disconnected from highways. For example, the Clinton admin raised the per-gallon federal gasoline tax to use a for general revenue purposes.
Fourth: A tax serves two civic purposes: 1) it funds the government function; 2) it makes the citizens aware of the cost of their demands for services. It is important that every gasoline pump carry a notice of the amount of all gasoline taxes.
Sure, it should. Just like the standard deduction has been indexed for the American people. Or like how you guys rigged the AMT so everyone could pay it when you devalued our dollar.
Dear Rep. DeFazio - take your gas tax and shove it.
Ths is a scary thought........The proposal that indexes the gas tax to the cost of construction inflation.
So the tax automatically increases without a vote.
NO!
Hey, look at the bright side - the government finally would have an incentive to provide an accurate accounting of the rate of inflation. /sarcasm
Tell Congress to cut out the highway pork first, and only THEN come to the taxpayers if they need more money.
The “accurate “ accounting of government book keepers is criminally negligent.
We would all be in jail if we did our taxes and ran our businesses like the government. But they have enough people in the book cooking to cover their a$$es. Government accountability is a myth.
Tricky, tricky. Watch for even more of the gasoline tax suddenly get spent for other "transit" systems like light rail and other public transit, airports and railroads.
Gas taxes for highways, airport and jet fuel taxes for airports and air traffic control, and public transit fairs for public transit. Don't allow the money to be put into one big pile to be taken out for pet projects.
Second, drop the federal gas tax and raise state gas taxes. If Alaska wants a bridge to nowhere, let them pay for it. Nothing about the money is made holy by baptizing it in the Potomac, so there is no reason for the Federales to get the money, skim some if it off and then return it to the states based on their congressional delegations' seniority.
Well, our ‘conservation’ of energy has cost the government alot of dough. Consider the public drove 30B less miles from Nov 07 to May 08. The fed alone lost .184 cents a gallon. You do the math.
In May 08, 49,000 heavy vehicles were idle when 1000 trucking companies went out of business. (49,000 times $550 loss on 2290’s alone)
As a owner of a small transportation company, we’ve watched the ‘excessive excise’ taxes we pay get wasted and abused. Each year we pay Federal Highway Use Taxes (2290) that are supposed to go to highway bills, but only 11% of that revenue go to infrastructure projects. (Don’t get me started on the 12.5% excise tax) I’m not complaining about having to pay the tax but it’s excessive when it goes to pay for things such as a ‘Woodstock Museum’! And now they want MORE?
Any candidate that would demand that taxes collected for a specific purpose would only go for that purpose and nothing else would win in a landslide!
Dont know what your state does. The wonderful state of Wisconsin, with it dumicrat governor, decided to spend a large portion on bike trails. Yep, bike trails. Hell, we still have pot holes from the harsh winter. Crazy, isnt it?
Building toll booths.
Good post. But you are more knowledgeable and sophisticated than the average voter; hence, they would not jump at the chance to have designated funds. Too bad, but true.
But your experience and your conclusions are true and consistent with the facts of the situation. Thanks for your post.
I’ll take that as a compliment. However, ‘knowledgeagle and sophisticated’ is really common sense.
In my world 2+2=4
It is insanity. For infrastructure contractors, the sky will be the limit. They will no longer have incentive to keep costs down. Dumbest, most corrupt Congress in history.
>>
Tell Congress to cut out the highway pork first, and only THEN come to the taxpayers if they need more money.
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Yes, exactly!
Davis-Bacon easily comes to mind where “prevailing” wage is set for project in rural Kansas based on the wage rate in downtown Kansas City.
Was the “bridge to nowhere” in Alaska funded via the highways trust fund too?
I don’t expect either Party wants to panic the public before elections. Bad news will be suppressed. After the elections, anything might happen.
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