Free Republic

This bill will increase the VA gasoline tax by indexing it to the Producer Price Index. Click on the link to see the actual results....should be posted by tomorrow. The bill passed 26 to 14. Republicans voting FOR the gas tax included Blevins, Hanger, Norment, Ruff, Stosch, Wagner and Watkins. Their emails are listed below....

The Washington state Senate has passed a bill to charge electric car owners a $100 annual fee to compensate for the lack of gas taxes they pay. Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen, the Camano Island Democrat who sponsored the bill, says while electric cars are good for the environment, they put the same wear and tear on the state's roads that gas vehicles do. The same bill passed in the Senate last year but failed in the House.

WASHINGTON - A day after the governor of Maryland said he would like to institute a percentage tax on gasoline, the chief executive of Virginia said he would not seek any additional taxes during a recession, particularly on gas, despite a significant demand for more transit projects. Both states have looked to sales tax to resolve their transportation funding woes. On Monday, Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley said he would like to do away with a ban on sales tax for gasoline, to add to its existing 23-cent flat tax. Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell has a different approach. "I will not...

IN THE MAELSTROM of tax increases proposed by Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D), it’s easy to lose track of which are most critical. For a start, it’s useful to identify which needs have been most and longest neglected — and near the top of that list is transportation. It’s been 20 years since Maryland raised its gasoline tax, the largest source of transportation funding. As construction costs have risen, the revenue it yields has plummeted in real terms. At this point, Marylanders (like Virginians, who last saw a gas tax increase when Ronald Reagan was president) are not paying for...

WASHINGTON - Many of Maryland's traffic woes would be alleviated by allowing a percentage tax on gasoline, the state's governor said Monday. While speaking on WTOP's "Ask the Governor," Martin O'Malley said he would like to "phase out" the sales tax exemption on gas, which would allow a percentage tax on the fuel in additon to the existing 23-cent flat tax. The current flat tax has not changed since the early 1990s when gasoline was about $1.08, the governor says, adding the regional arteries wouldn't be so clogged if the state had more to invest in transportation infrastructure. "The best...

A Republican state senator from Meriden says he plans to introduce legislation next month that caps one of Connecticut's two taxes on gasoline sales. Sen. Leonard Suzio said Thursday that his bill would cap the gross receipts tax whenever the price of gas hits $3 a gallon. The gross receipts tax fluctuates when the wholesale price of gasoline fluctuates. There is a fixed 25-cent-per-gallon state tax. The gross receipts tax adds about another 25 cents per gallon. Suzio and the Stamford-based Gasoline and Automotive Service Dealers of America are circulating a citizens' petition, urging Gov. Dannel P. Malloy to back...

The Club for Growth wrote a white paper on Governor Romney back in 2007. Most of the information below is from that repory, but since Romney has been outspoken on several issues then, weve updated his record to reflect those positions. ...During his initial 2002 campaign Romney refused to sign an anti-tax pledge, but he pledged to balance the budget without raising taxes and touted his fulfillment of that pledge throughout his term. But the details suggest that he broke his verbal committment. Romney did not impose any broad-based tax hikes he imposed a slew of fee hikes. He opposed...

RICHMOND — An analysis by a nonprofit tax-policy institute says that Maryland and Virginia could have collected hundreds of millions of dollars per year since their last gas-tax increases if they had raised the tax regularly to account for inflation. The states, both of which are desperately trying to cobble together more money for transportation, had among the highest totals in the nation of unimposed gas-tax dollars, according to the D.C.-based Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Maryland’s gas tax of 23.5 cents per gallon, in place since 1992, could have generated an additional $421 million per year in the...

ANNAPOLIS — A Maryland commission recommended Tuesday that the state raise its gas tax by more than 60 percent over the next three years, but members acknowledged that taxpayers facing a dire economy could find the increase hard to swallow. The proposed hike, approved by the state-appointed Blue Ribbon Commission on Maryland Transportation Funding, would raise the gas tax on wholesalers by 5 cents a year for three years, from the current rate of 23.5 cents per gallon. The move could generate nearly $500 million in annual revenue and is part of $870 million in annual tax-and-fee increases recommended by...

ANNAPOLIS — A Maryland commission will likely recommend that the General Assembly gradually increase the state’s gas tax to help pay for transportation projects and road maintenance, its chairman said Tuesday. Members of the Blue Ribbon Commission on Maryland Transportation Funding tentatively agreed on a plan that would generate more than $800 million in annual transportation revenue by raising the state’s 23.5-cents-a-gallon gas tax and hiking several vehicle and transit fees. More than half the revenue would come from raising the gas tax by 5 cents for three consecutive years, bringing it to 38.5 cents a gallon. That rate would...

The other day our sister newspaper, the Gloucester County Times, reported on a raid at a fraternity house at Rowan University where — get ready for a shock — some college kids were drinking. About 100 of the kids were underage and will face charges. Believe it or not, that incident has its roots in the same problem that led to the controversy over the so-called "Bridge to Nowhere" in Alaska. That problem lies in the way the federal government distributes highway funding: poorly. It’s obvious in the case of the bridge that would have connected the city of Ketchikan,...

ANNAPOLIS — A Senate leader in the Democrat-controlled General Assembly said Wednesday that a proposal to increase the state’s gas tax might get shelved during its 2012 session because of anticipated budget woes and public outcry. Senate Budget and Taxation Committee Chairman Edward J. Kasemeyer, Baltimore County Democrat, said legislators will likely have their hands full attempting to close an anticipated $1 billion budget shortfall and might not get around to considering a proposal to raise the 23.5-cents-a-gallon excise tax. A state-appointed commission recommended last week that lawmakers pass $520 million in tax and fee increases to fund improvements to...

Increases to the gas tax, vehicle registration fees and the titling tax were among the options discussed to raise transportation revenues during a lengthy Senate Budget and Taxation Committee hearing Wednesday. The panel is examining ways to increase funding by $800 million a year for road projects, an issue that's likely to be one of several budget-related priorities in the 2012 General Assembly session. The legislature will also try to take another bite out of Maryland's persistent $1 billion structural deficit. Wednesday's meeting was the third in a series of interim hearings on potential tax increases to close various budget...

President Barack Obama used his weekly radio address to engage in some political gamesmanship while calling for an end to political gamesmanship. Desperate to look like he's doing anything in light of yesterday's horrendous jobs report, the president used this morning's speech to once again claim there is a crisis looming and the Surface Transportation Bill will be allowed to expire putting 1 million workers in danger of losing their jobs if Congress fails to act. But the deadline for extension is weeks away and work on it is already well underway.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg is pushing last-minute legislation to give local governments power to seek new fuel surcharges to fund certain transit projects. Senate Bill 791 would allow local transportation agencies to seek voter approval for a "regional transportation congestion reduction charge" on gasoline or diesel. The bill language, introduced in the form of amendments to existing legislation last week, would also allow a new vehicle registration charge on electric vehicles. Revenues raised by the fees, which would require approval of a majority of voters in the impacted region, would fund transit proposals developed by the local transportation...

Inside the Beltway, George Will is considered quite a columnist. That sure doesn't carry over when he ventures north of I-495.Why is he writing nonsense like this about Chris Christie? Taxing the rich is popular, but Christie told New Jersey: “If I let my foot off their throat on the millionaire’s tax, they’re coming after you with the gas tax.� That is, the 24-cent increase in the tax the Legislature can’t get past him. Does this guy ever do any research at all?  The Democrats have not tried to get a 24-cent-a-gallon gas tax through the Legislature.  The bill in question, A-2718, was...

Who’s ready for another endless fight across the aisle in Washington this fall?In addition to the debt ceiling debate, we recently saw the FAA hit a temporary shutdown after Congress couldn’t agree on extending their marching orders. (They’ll be sending out apologies notes to all of you who got airline tickets for sixty dollars less any day now, I’m sure.) But the fun isn’t over yet, sports fans!The Hill is reporting that the next target on the radar is the renewal of the highway bill – a behemoth package with hundreds of billions in spending and revenue buried in it....

After watching a two-week shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration, transportation advocates and congressional staffers are concerned that the federal gas tax could become the next confrontational issue that Democrats and Republicans push to the brink. The Senate and House are in the process of considering a long-term highway bill. Passing a short-term extension while they work out the details of a longer measure would normally be considered routine, but so was a short-term extension of FAA funding. That all changed July 23, when 4,000 FAA workers were furloughed for nearly two weeks as the House and Senate could not...

In normal times, renewing the federal excise tax on gasoline would be another routine vote in Congress. But as the past month of rancorous and intensely partisan debate about raising the debt ceiling has shown, the times are anything but normal. And with most of the 18.4-cent tax per gallon of gasoline set to expire Sept. 30, renewing the tax could be the next political controversy to spark a brawl in an ever more deeply divided Capitol Hill.... One transportation advocate who works on the issue told POLITICO that the relevant congressional committees barely seem aware the issue is pending...

The fact that every level of government taxes our income, consumption and property prompted John R. Smith to ask in the title of a recent BizPacReview post, “Why don’t they just tax our corpses?” Owning an automobile requires that we pay a sales tax, title and registration fees, annual registration fees, ad valorem taxes, state and federal gas taxes, and, if we want to avoid the “I-95 parking lot,” we pay a turnpike toll. Even if we don’t own an automobile, our taxes help pay for our neighbor’s hybrid car, and for the ethanol he pumps into it. Apparently, this...

General Motor's CEO, Dan Akerson, wants higher gas taxes and the price of a gallon of gas to increase closer to $5 a gallon. Are you kidding me?! The comments were made in an interview with the Detroit News. Regarding government imposed fuel efficiency increases Akerson stated, "You know what I'd rather have them do, this will make my Republican friends puke, as gas is going to go down here now, we ought to just slap a 50-cent or a dollar tax on a gallon of gas. People will start buying more Cruzes and they will start buying less Suburbans."...

They don’t call it Government Motors for nothing, you know: General Motors Co. CEO Dan Akerson wants the federal gas tax boosted as much as $1 a gallon to nudge consumers toward more fuel-efficient cars, and he’s confident the government will soon shed its remaining 26 percent stake in the once-bankrupt automaker. …And while he is eager to say goodbye to the government as a part owner of GM, Akerson would like to see it step up to the challenge of setting a higher gas tax, as part of a comprehensive energy policy.A government-imposed tax hike, Akerson believes, will prompt...

Increasing the federal gas tax should be considered to pay for a new transportation bill, a key Democrat said Tuesday. Rep. Nick Rahall (W.Va.), the ranking Democrat on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said President Obama should be more specific about how he plans to fund a long-term transportation spending bill, and that raising the gas tax should be one of the options. "We've not had an increase in the gas tax since 1993," Rahall said Tuesday during a speech at the Transportation Construction Coalition's 10th annual Washington fly-in. "Cars are more efficient," Rahall said. "They get better mileage."...

The US uses about 386,000,000 gallons of gas per day, the federal excise tax on gasoline, as of February 2011, is 18.4¢/gal and 24.4¢/gal for diesel fuel. So lets take an average of 20 cents a gallon; That comes to $77,200,000 collected in taxes every day. Per year is $28,178,000,000, to claim oil companies don't pay their fair share in taxes, you have to pretend there is no tax on the product they produce. Not to mention each state adds their own tax on top of the feds tax. The federal government makes a higher percentage than the oil companies...

Remember when smokers begged for people to be a little understanding? Remember when smokers warned that there would be a tax that ALL people would have to pay on something they held dear? Well, I think the GPS tax for tracking and taxing every mile you drive just may fit that bill. This tax, like the cigarette smokers tax, will have devastating consequences on the poor and middle income people. With a tax on every mile we drive, not to mention tracking information on every mile we drive, are we seeing the "hope" and "change" that Obama and the democrats...

Such economic illiteracy is unusual, even for a labor union chief: "What's the best way to get Americans back to work? Raise taxes, according to AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. Specifically, he wants to raise the federal gas tax as a means to fund infrastructure spending. 'We need a dedicated source of revenue to create infrastructure in this country,' he tells Aaron Task in the accompanying clip. "'We need to create jobs. The best way to do that is through infrastructure development.' Simply maintaining the existing infrastructure in this country will cost $2.2 trillion over five years, according to the American...

Three Rutgers University scientists came to Trenton Tuesday to give Governor Christie a message: climate change is real, and it's man-made.  The State House forum, sponsored by several environmental groups, was held in response to Christie's recent comments at a Toms River town hall that he is skeptical that global warming results from human activity. "I've heard over 100 different arguments about why we shouldn’t accept global warming. They're all fallacious and I'd be happy to point out the errors in any of them," said Rutgers professor Alan Robock, a meteorologist.Responding to a question at the town hall last month,...

Two former transportation secretaries who recently co-chaired a panel that proposes gas tax hikes and user fees to pay for government transportation projects joined President Obama Monday as he called for a $50 billion immediate investment in roads, rails and runways. And while the president has not endorsed the proposals by ex-officials Norm Mineta and Samuel Skinner, some industry experts insist gas prices will have to rise to pay for the grand plans. "These reforms and innovations will not be cheap," said AAA President Robert Darbelnet. "All funding options must be on the table -- including an increase in the...

The federal government would have an additional $10 billion a year to spend on crucial highways if it stopped diverting federal fuel tax money to projects with no national benefits... The federal gas tax was supposed to be used to build and maintain the Interstate Highway System. Today auto and truck drivers pay federal gas taxes that are diverted to ferryboats, trails and mass transit programs... The 18.4 cents a gallon federal fuel tax should be refocused on rebuilding and modernizing vitally important Interstates... It is time to rethink and refocus the federal transportation role more on core federal purposes...

There are currently two pieces of tax legislation that have been introduced into Congress that will affect virtually every person in the United States. These new bills are very deceptive, since they tax the chemical and petroleum industry; however, what EPA and the sponsors of the bill do not mention is that these taxes will be passed back down to the consumer level. The sponsors of the bill also claim that this tax will create or save jobs and "punish the polluters" (the petroleum and chemical industries) -- especially in light of the BP oil spill. The original Superfund taxes...

Emergencies: As frustration with the federal response grows, Louisiana's governor lashes out at the feds for doing little except blame BP for the Gulf oil spill. Meanwhile, Congress sees a chance to raise your gas taxes. While the Obama administration continues on its quest to fundamentally transform America, the largely unabated Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico threatens to fundamentally transform the ecosystems and economy of Louisiana and the Gulf region. The federal government's response so far has consisted largely of scapegoating BP and ignoring its own responsibilities and lack of preparation, railing against Big Oil, while Congress...

Through the power of Facebook, up to a half a million drivers in the UK are expected to boycott gas next month shortly before the nation heads to the polls for a general election in which Prime Minister (PM) Gordon Brown is fighting stiff competition for the win. Many Brits are upset with recent gas tax increases that were supported and passed by PM Brown. Protesters hope that the mass demonstration will be the nail in the coffin for his chances of winning. Gas prices have soared in Britain, reaching U.S. $1.87 a liter (about $7.06 a gallon) last week....

To meet the Obama administration’s targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, some researchers say, Americans may have to experience a sobering reality: gas at $7 a gallon. To reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the transportation sector 14 percent from 2005 levels by 2020, the cost of driving must simply increase, according to a forthcoming report by researchers at Harvard’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. The 14 percent target was set in the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget for fiscal 2010.

California drivers could save a dollar and change each visit to the gas pump under a tax swap proposed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. In an effort to free up money to balance the state budget, the governor wants to reduce the sales tax motorists pay on gas purchases while increasing the gas excise tax, also paid at the pump. The net result, state finance officials estimate, would be a 5-cent savings for consumers per gallon of gas in the next year. A Bee calculation based on this week's $3-per-gallon average in California puts the savings at 7 cents a gallon....

The social and economic costs of lost productivity and wasted fuel from traffic-choked streets are estimated to be $87 billion a year, according to the Texas Transportation Institute’s 2009 Urban Mobility Report. So far, federal, state and local efforts — focused mostly on expanding road capacity — have been largely unsuccessful at slowing the growing congestion on U.S. roads. Transportation experts now advocate a different approach, changing the emphasis from increasing supply to reducing demand. To reinforce smart growth policies, plug mounting transportation funding gaps and achieve immediate traffic relief, London, Stockholm, Singapore, Milan and three cities in Norway have...

Sara was late for work. The alarm clock didn't alarm, the kids were unusually slow getting ready for school, and nothing went right. She finally got to her car -- a brand new 2020 Chevy Adventure. She touched the finger-print secured start button. Nothing. It wouldn't start. She touched it again. Nothing. Furious, she banged the steering wheel with her fist. Then she noticed the paper hanging from the receipt printer on the dash. "Your designated visa account rejected your Road Use Tax in the amount of $87.32 for the month of June, 2020. You must insert a valid account...

The year is 2020 and the gasoline tax is history. In its place you get a monthly tax bill based on each mile you drove — tracked by a Global Positioning System device in your car and uploaded to a billing center. What once was science fiction is being field-tested by the University of Iowa to iron out the wrinkles should a by-the-mile road tax ever be enacted. Besides the technological advances making such a tax possible, the idea is getting a hard push from a growing number of transportation experts and officials.

California cities will sue the state if its new fiscal budget includes "stealing" local gas tax funds, leaders for the League of California Cities warned today. "Our intention is to be prepared to file a lawsuit the day after the budget is signed," Chris McKenzie, the league's executive director, said at a news conference in the Sacramento Convention Center. "The (state) Constitution and statutes have never authorized the state to steal gas tax funds."

Another pseudo-brilliant idea floating around these days is the concept of a gas tax, and Thomas flat-earth Friedman is just the guy to spread it. And Diane Sawyer is just the person to lap it up. Right-wingers can't be expected to be this brilliant, and people like Sawyer and Friedman have to explain it to us... But sometimes even left wingers resist the idea of a gas tax, as is evidenced by Sawyer's conversation with Carol Browner, Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change. Sawyer asked six different times in various ways whether the administration will implement a...

The federal kitty used to fix and build highways runs dry in August. It will be the second time in two years that the Highway Trust Fund, which was started in 1956 to build the Interstate system, hasn't collected enough gas-tax revenues to pay for critical needs in transport. The reasons for the money shortfall are simple: With Americans driving less in a recession and also buying more-fuel-efficient vehicles, revenues from the gas tax are down. And it doesn't help that the federal fee of 18.4 cents per gallon hasn't been raised since 1993, despite inflation and more transport projects....

Filmmaker and leftist activist Michael Moore said the demise of General Motors filled him with ‘joy’ Monday and then suggested the Obama administration launch into a massive socialization of U.S. industry to build ‘green’ autos and bullet trains. To pay for it all, he suggests a $2 per gallon federal tax. Writing on The Daily Beast Web site, Moore said he was writing from Flint, Michigan, GM’s birthplace, which he described as abandoned and emptied by the company’s incompetence and eagerness for cheap labor. “Who among us wants $50 billion of our tax dollars thrown down the rat hole of...

The Waxman-Markey bill is making just about every segment of the oil and natural-gas industry unhappy. Oil refiners would be hit, because they would likely be among the largest buyers of emissions allowances. In addition to covering their own emissions, the refineries that turn crude oil into gasoline, diesel and other fuels will be responsible for the carbon emissions from transportation. That puts the industry on the hook for some 44% of U.S. carbon emissions, according to the American Petroleum Institute, but it would receive just 2% of the emissions allowances available under the bill. Refiners would have to buy...

"Good Morning America" co-host Diane Sawyer on Tuesday aggressively lobbied for the Obama administration to install a European-style gas tax on the United States. Talking to Carol Browner, Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change, about Obama's plans for increased fuel standards, she began, "Why not just go to a gas tax, for instance, which would accomplish a reduction in the use of gasoline, dependence on foreign oil right away?" Sawyer would proceed to ask variations on this question six times. Citing calls for a gas tax by New York Times columnist Tom Friedman,

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said the federal government has to look at raising the gasoline tax to pay for public works improvements if the public supports paying for them, according to a "Meet the Press" interview that aired Sunday. The Republican governor appeared on the NBC show with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell to advocate for more federal public works spending as part of a coalition they formed last year. The interview was taped Friday. Host David Gregory asked Schwarzenegger whether an increase in the federal 18.4-cent per gallon gasoline tax is an appropriate way...

Conversion Would Make Per-Gallon Gasoline Tax To Tax On Wholesale Price Of Gas Noting that state roads are "the pits," Gov. Jennifer Granholm says she supports changing the state gasoline tax to raise more money as gas prices rise. Granholm told reporters Wednesday that the state's current 19-cent-per-gallon tax doesn't raise enough money to repair Michigan's aging roads. The Transportation Funding Task Force she appointed last year has suggested converting the per-gallon gasoline tax to a tax on the wholesale price of gas and raising vehicle registration fees. Granholm says she supports both.

A commission established by Congress to study options for funding the nation’s roads and bridges on Thursday recommended raising the federal gas tax by 10 cents a gallon. In a report, the National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission cited a “crisis” of neglect for infrastructure, and also called for an eventual switch to a tax based on miles driven, rather than gasoline consumed. Raising the federal gas tax, now 18.4 cents a gallon, is so politically tricky that the idea has gone nowhere in 16 years. The tax is the main source of federal dollars for fixing roads and bridges....

The United States is in a recession with millions of Americans struggling with being out of work, and now a dozen states across the country are proposing tax increases. They are considering an idea to raise the gas tax. One governor interested in this idea is Deval Patrick of Massachusetts, who wants to raise the state's gas tax by 19 cents, bringing it from 23 cents a gallon to nearly 43 cents a gallon. It would become the highest gas tax in the nation. Patrick isn't the only governor considering it. Lawmakers in New Hampshire, Illinois, Oregon and Ohio are...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says he wants to consider taxing motorists based on how many miles they drive rather than how much gasoline they burn — an idea that has angered drivers in some states where it has been proposed. Gasoline taxes that for nearly half a century have paid for the federal share of highway and bridge construction can no longer be counted on to raise enough money to keep the nation's transportation system moving, LaHood said in an interview with The Associated Press. "We should look at the vehicular miles program where people are actually...

Patrick weighs 27 cent gas tax hike BOSTON -- Gov. Deval Patrick is considering asking the Legislature to raise the Massachusetts gasoline tax by 27 cents per gallon as part of a comprehensive package aimed at solving lingering state transportation problems, The Associated Press learned Monday. Such an increase would stave off a doubling of Massachusetts Turnpike tolls planned for this spring, and finance a wholesale change in the way state runs its transporation system, but leave it with the highest gasoline tax in the nation at 50.5 cents. And the plan calls for increasing that tax annually, based on...

Gas prices were too high and we weren't green enough. Fine, buy an electric car or gas saving car and all is fine. Right? Wrong. The Oregon Governor thinks gas taxes are going away. His answer? Tax the miles you drive. Tax the miles you drive with GPS technology. Think they are kidding? They're not.