Posted on 11/28/2012 2:17:01 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
As lawmakers race to negotiate a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff, some experts say one tax increase should be on the table: a gas tax hike.
Currently at 18.4 cents a gallon, the federal gas tax is used primarily to build and repair roads, bridges and other transportation infrastructure. The tax raises about $32 billion a year.
But that's not enough. The government hands out about $50 billion a year to states and towns to help with road costs. The difference comes out of general funds or has to be borrowed. Meanwhile, the gas tax hasn't been raised since 1993.
"Establishing a sustainable resource base for transportation needs to be part of any grand bargain," said Emil Frankel, a former transportation expert in the George W. Bush administration and now director of transportation policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center. "In the short run, raising the gas tax is the best way to do that."
Raising the gas tax was one of the recommendations of the Simpson-Bowles debt reduction plan in 2010. The plan called for a 15 cent-a-gallon hike to the gas tax, a level that would basically cover the current shortfall in the transportation budget...
(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...
The fiscal cliff “crisis” is that taxes are set to go up. Raising another tax is not a “fix” to the other tax increases.
Another fiscal cliff fix: CUT SPENDING!!
Or....
Cut federal highway spending to $10 billion, reduce the gas tax by 60%, and let states decide if they want to raise their own gas tax.
We need to ban automatic transmissions. They allow too many people to drive.
Typical lefty...a lie to start off with.
Experts ???
IEmil Frankel, a former transportation expert in the George W. Bush .... just another bureaucrat. He is not an expert.
Unfortunately, since the engine that drives economic recovery is making energy as cheap as possible to consume, this is a spectacularly stupid idea.
Are you insane? That’s not possible because we all know every single penny spent is done efficiently and sorely needed less we all starve to death! /s
It’s like coming home one night and telling your wife she needs to get another part time job because it’s getting harder to pay for the two Mercedes, BMW bike, speed boat and 8,000 square foot house payment.
If higher taxes on gas will increase the price, a significant portion of the population will drive less, or get cars with better gas mileage, and there will be little or no increase in tax revenue. But that’s not the point of such a tax. The point is to get us out of cars, and into trains, tied to the schedules, and visible to big brother’s eyes.
“But that’s not enough.” No amount of money ever is. Waiting for the day when some politician says “We have enough money....”
“But that’s not enough.” No amount of money ever is. Waiting for the day when some politician says “We have enough money....”
I will be all alone here but I say go ahead.
People have spoken and they should get what they voted for. B0 came right out and said he wants higher energy prices.
Oh yeah — women, minorities and children hardest hit.
Regressive tax that hurts the poor and middle class. And depending on the size of the increase, it will cause the price of food, goods, and services to increase—costs that will be passed on to the consumer. A 15 cents increase would be a major blow to the economy.
all they do in NC is repave roads that don’t need it, replacing traffic lights that still work, and clean ditches that don’t need to be cleaned...by the way...they only actually work about 50% of the normal work day of a private contractor...goofing off to the job, goofing off going to break then lunch and goofing off quitting early to get back to the shed...worthless...yea really a good use of funds!!!
I like raising the gas tax for 2 reasons:
1) Some of the money will be used for highways.
2) It is regressive, as the article states. It’s ABOUT TIME that the poor started to pay some taxes too.
A lot of the gas tax is used to subsidize mass transit/bike paths etc rather than used on highway repairs and upgrades. Subsidizing inefficient and costly transit systems that handle less than 1% of all trips per day and are heavily unionized has zero appeal to me and other taxpayers.
lies upon lies upon lies upon lies upon etc...
Tunnels do save lives in that bears and elk regularly cross
I-90 here in WA and are struck by cars often with fatal results (for the people inviolved). Anything else they do with the money should be spend to widen the damn freeways, not build trains to nowhere or nature paths or other such ..
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