Trump says open to raising gasoline tax to fund infrastructure: Bloomberg

Reuters ^ | May 1, 2017 | by Timothy Ahmann

[Oldeconomybuyer]

President Donald Trump said on Monday he would consider raising the federal tax on gasoline to fund infrastructure development "earmarked toward the highways," Bloomberg News reported.

"It's something that I would certainly consider,” Trump told the news agency.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

So Jerry Brown is advising President Trump.

[Parley Baer]

You obviously do not understand President Trump.

[ConservativeMind]

Everything should be on the table.

You do not understand how to negotiate.

[nathanbedford]

Here we go again folks.

First we had repeal and replace Obama care.

Now we have a disastrous continuing budget resolution.

Next we will have tax cuts.

We shall see.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

You obviously do not understand President Trump.

Perhaps. But I do understand what happens when Washington DC raises taxes and the cost of transportation.

[dsrtsage]

I say we have one dollar per mile smug tax for all people who buy green vehicles for the sole purpose of virtue signaling

[Dr. Sivana]

So Jerry Brown is advising President Trump.

Reagan did the same thing 35 years ago, here's a decent article with details:

http://www.cfm-online.com/federal-lobbying-blog/2015/5/29/lessons-from-reagans-1982-gas-tax-hike

[9YearLurker]

Unfortunately, it appears that Oldeconomybuyer understands Trump all too well.

The Dems in his admin must be smiling today.

[jimfree]

Any Freeper that has not read The Art of the Deal or a synopsis of the book is at a disadvantage here. Donald Trump works best when the other negotiators do not "read his lips" but must be forced to read his mind. When Donald Trump says that all paths are open, he is careful not to reveal too early those that are likely to be closed or rerouted in his final offer.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

You do not understand how to negotiate.

You haven't identified the swamp.

[Parley Baer]

“Any Freeper that has not read The Art of the Deal or a synopsis of the book is at a disadvantage here.”

Thank You, someone that gets it.

[FatherofFive]

So Jerry Brown is advising President Trump.

OMG. Still funding Planned Parenthood. Still funding 0bamacare. No money for the Wall.

How is this budget different than what HiLiary would have proposed?

[umgud]

Keep it small and make sure the money doesn’t end up in a general fund like California will.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

At what point during the campaign did Trump say he would fund his $1 trillion dollar infrastructure boondoggle by raising gasoline taxes?

Trump’s economic plan anticipates 3% economic growth. How does raising the cost of transportation improve economic growth?

Do we have president Trump or president Pelosi?

[Alberta's Child]

It’s not a budget, for one thing. We are still operating under the 2017 fiscal cycle that started on October 1st of last year.

[FreeReign]

Everything should be on the table. You do not understand how to negotiate.

I don't think you understand.

It depends on which side one is negotiating from. If one is on the side that gas taxes are already too high, then one doesn't put raising gas taxes on the table, especially as a starting point.

[Lagmeister]

Except that we get to keep our guns for another 4 years, one would think the polls were right and Hillary got elected: we still have Obamacare insurance, Obama-court’s decisions and Obama-congress bills. And - if we keep the Paris Accords we will even have Obama-climate tax to go with our gas taxes. I honestly don’t think I can handle all this winning.

[joesbucks]

So if we end up with a rise in the gas tax......explain that away.

[nathanbedford]

America is drowning in debt, $20 trillion worth fed every day by burgeoning deficits. Trump has shown that he has no inclination whatsoever to cut any significant amounts from the budget in order to bring it to balance. In fact, he proposes a new entitlement, Ivankacare. He intends to spend more money on military, no doubt needed, but no doubt it will increase deficits. He intends to spend $1 trillion on infrastructure, thus expanding the debt.

Now he says he is "open" to increasing taxes on fuel. Is he also "open" to the inflation that will cause and to the loss of growth that would entail?

Remember, Trump's plan for avoiding fiscal reckoning from runaway debt in the absence of significant budget cutting is only to improve growth. To do that he must have the foundation stones of his plan in place: trade reform, foreign funds repatriation, regulations cut, and, above all, tax cuts.

Increase in taxes on fuels is among the worst possible tax increases because it places a further burden on commerce and is inevitably inflationary.

You say he should negotiate with everything on the table. Why then would he start the negotiation process by offering tax increases when the object is to cut taxes?

[9YearLurker]

What, you don’t like to see Ivanka and Jared “winning” in their presidential administration?

The biggest slam by far is backing so far away from enforcing our immigration laws. We’ve got 10s of millions of illegals who need to go home, and during the campaign Trump said that they had to go home (including ending DACA on day one), but now Trump is turning into Little Marco and open to the “comprehensive immigration reform” (AKA amnesty) that Congress has been itching to pass.