Gas tax should rise 25 cents to fund road repair: US Chamber of Commerce

[Zippyjuan]

https://www.greencarreports.com/news...er-of-commerce

It's an unusual thing, to say the least, when the U.S. Chamber of Commerce publicly suggests a major tax increase.

In general, the pro-business lobbying group advocates for tax cuts, reducing or eliminating regulations, and free-market policies that allow companies to operate however they choose.

But there it was on Tuesday: The Chamber will propose a 25-cent-per-gallon increase in the federal tax on gasoline paid by everyone who fills up at the pump.

The group intends to introduce a set of principles it believes should guide a long-overdue and comprehensive effort to upgrade the nation's roads, highways, bridges, tunnels, and other transportation infrastructure.

Raising the gas tax, however, is described as an "uphill battle" in coverage of the proposal by The Washington Post.

Congress last raised the U.S. federal gas tax 25 years ago in 1993, to the 18.5-cents-per-gallon level it remains at today. Diesel fuel is taxed at 24.4 cents per gallon.

In private meetings, President Donald Trump is reported to have proposed raising the tax as much as 50 cents a gallon—an idea that received, the Post said, a "chilly reception" among Republican leaders who control the House and the Senate.

Still, a major infrastructure improvement program will require hundreds of billions of dollars of funding, and it's not otherwise clear where that money will come from.

Such a proposal has been a long time coming.

Over the years, numerous CEOs and corporate leaders—from Ford chairman Bill Ford to AutoNation CEO Mike Jackson—have said publicly the gas tax should rise.

"The U.S. allows the price of gasoline to go back and forth across this line where the consumers don't care about fuel efficiency and where consumers do care about fuel efficiency," said Jackson in 2009.

Then-General Motors board member Jerry York echoed the sentiment, suggesting to Reuters the same year the challenge of selling more fuel-efficient vehicles: "Unless gas is $3.50 or $4 a gallon, consumers are not going to want to buy those cars."

Over 10 years, a 25-cent increase in the gasoline tax would raise more than $375 billion, according to the Chamber's calculations—far more than the $200 billion the Trump Administration plans to propose when or if its long-delayed infrastructure plan is released.

More at link.

[devil21]

Dollar devaluation. They can, do and will come up with a million surface reasons to avoid outwardly stating that the dollar is being trashed.

[acptulsa]

Or better still, they could repeal the federal motor fuel tax altogether. Washington takes that money, skims some off the top to feed the bureaucrats who administer it, skim some more off the top for various federal boondoggles that have nothing to do with infrastructure, and dole what little is left back to states according to whether they jump through federal hoops and according to how much pull their senators and representatives have in Congress.

Repeal it and states can raise their own motor fuels taxes by up to eighteen and a half cents a gallon for gas and nearly a quarter a gallon for diesel with no pain on the people or the economy at all (except for the economy of the Washington bureaucracies, perhaps). And the states can then apply that money directly to infrastructure, and the citizens of that state can do something about it if that money isn't spent well--they can fire their whole legislatures if necessary to fix the problem. Can the citizens of one state fire the entire federal legislature if they don't get anything for the federal fuels taxes they pay?

The federal fuels tax is the problem, not the solution. Repeal it and roads will improve within months. And if they don't in your state, you and your fellow sufferers can actually do something about it.

[Swordsmyth]

Or better still, they could repeal the federal motor fuel tax altogether. Washington takes that money, skims some off the top to feed the bureaucrats who administer it, skim some more off the top for various federal boondoggles that have nothing to do with infrastructure, and dole what little is left back to states according to whether they jump through federal hoops and according to how much pull their senators and representatives have in Congress.

Repeal it and states can raise their own motor fuels taxes by up to eighteen and a half cents a gallon for gas and nearly a quarter a gallon for diesel with no pain on the people or the economy at all (except for the economy of the Washington bureaucracies, perhaps). And the states can then apply that money directly to infrastructure, and the citizens of that state can do something about it if that money isn't spent well--they can fire their whole legislatures if necessary to fix the problem. Can the citizens of one state fire the entire federal legislature if they don't get anything for the federal fuels taxes they pay?

The federal fuels tax is the problem, not the solution. Repeal it and roads will improve within months. And if they don't in your state, you and your fellow sufferers can actually do something about it.

Since the feds have delegated responsibility for the "post roads" (Interstate highways and freeways) to the states then you are correct.

[acptulsa]

Since the feds have delegated responsibility for the "post roads" (Interstate highways and freeways) to the states then you are correct.

Interstate highways and freeways are not interchangeable concepts. A freeway can be, and many of them are, completely intrastate, and an interstate can be, and many of them are, turnpikes.

And the post office managed to get the mail circulated for about a hundred and eighty years before the Military Industrial Complex shoved through the unnecessary federal power grab which was the Interstate Highway System. State highways were connected into a federal network for decades before Washington figured out a way to talk the public into accepting a federal motor fuels tax.

Fact of the matter is, some odd 90% of the mileage the U.S. mail spends on roads is spent on city streets, and back before the U.S.P.S. abandoned the railroads for airplanes, that number was even higher. Post roads are seriously ancient history, and they certainly don't explain the Interstate Highway Boondoggle in any way.

[dean.engelhardt]

Glad I got an income tax break so now I can afford the gas tax.

Muh Roads!

[Swordsmyth]

Interstate highways and freeways are not interchangeable concepts. A freeway can be, and many of them are, completely intrastate, and an interstate can be, and many of them are, turnpikes.

And the post office managed to get the mail circulated for about a hundred and eighty years before the Military Industrial Complex shoved through the unnecessary federal power grab which was the Interstate Highway System. State highways were connected into a federal network for decades before Washington figured out a way to talk the public into accepting a federal motor fuels tax.

I referred only to the "Interstate" highways and freeways and the Constitution gives the feds the power "To establish Post Offices and Post Roads;"in A1 S8.

[oyarde]

Fed gas tax should be repealed .

[Brian4Liberty]

Infrastructure spending. What a joke. It's due to mismanagement and neglect. You can guarantee that these mostly Democrat states that are in terrible shape never missed an opportunity to line their own pockets and increase bureaucracy, pensions and benefits for themselves. Crony socialist corruption. The answer is not more money.

[sparebulb]

Leave it to our resident communitarian, Zippy, to quote the US Chamber of Commun, err...Commerce and their support for a massive tax increase.

[phill4paul]

Or better still, they could repeal the federal motor fuel tax altogether. Washington takes that money, skims some off the top to feed the bureaucrats who administer it, skim some more off the top for various federal boondoggles that have nothing to do with infrastructure, and dole what little is left back to states according to whether they jump through federal hoops and according to how much pull their senators and representatives have in Congress.

Repeal it and states can raise their own motor fuels taxes by up to eighteen and a half cents a gallon for gas and nearly a quarter a gallon for diesel with no pain on the people or the economy at all (except for the economy of the Washington bureaucracies, perhaps). And the states can then apply that money directly to infrastructure, and the citizens of that state can do something about it if that money isn't spent well--they can fire their whole legislatures if necessary to fix the problem. Can the citizens of one state fire the entire federal legislature if they don't get anything for the federal fuels taxes they pay?

The federal fuels tax is the problem, not the solution. Repeal it and roads will improve within months. And if they don't in your state, you and your fellow sufferers can actually do something about it.

^^^^This^^^^

[devil21]

I referred only to the "Interstate" highways and freeways and the Constitution gives the feds the power "To establish Post Offices and Post Roads;"in A1 S8.

Speaking of post office/USPS. Anybody else not getting mail delivered for the last few days? We had some snow so I can see a day or so but it's been three days and mail is not being delivered throughout my area. Even the tracking system hasn't been working.

[phill4paul]

Speaking of post office/USPS. Anybody else not getting mail delivered for the last few days? We had some snow so I can see a day or so but it's been three days and mail is not being delivered throughout my area. Even the tracking system hasn't been working.

It's the federal shutdown! Call a Congressman now! Demand they spend moar monies!

[devil21]

It's the federal shutdown! Call a Congressman now! Demand they spend moar monies!

So is that a yes or no? Are you getting mail phil?

[Swordsmyth]

Speaking of post office/USPS. Anybody else not getting mail delivered for the last few days? We had some snow so I can see a day or so but it's been three days and mail is not being delivered throughout my area. Even the tracking system hasn't been working.

It's the federal shutdown! Call a Congressman now! Demand they spend moar monies!

Everything is just fine where I live and where my relative works in the post office and the post office is not affected by the shutdown since it is a quasi-government institution these days.

[devil21]

Everything is just fine where I live and where my relative works in the post office and the post office is not affected by the shutdown since it is a quasi-government institution these days.

OK thanks for the reply. Very odd that we got a few inches of snow and mail delivery has completely shut down for some reason even though the airport is fine and the roads are clear.

eta: USPS website says suspended until further notice. Oh well, glad I wasn't expecting anything important.

[Swordsmyth]

OK thanks for the reply. Very odd that we got a few inches of snow and mail delivery has completely shut down for some reason even though the airport is fine and the roads are clear.

Probably the safety snowflakes are freaking out over the real kind.

[phill4paul]

So is that a yes or no? Are you getting mail phil?

Yep. Bills and junk mail. All except two days. One during the snowstorm, the other the next due to black ice until noon. And of course Sun. and MLK day. It was crammed full today.

[Brian4Liberty]

Or better still, they could repeal the federal motor fuel tax altogether. Washington takes that money, skims some off the top to feed the bureaucrats who administer it, skim some more off the top for various federal boondoggles that have nothing to do with infrastructure, and dole what little is left back to states according to whether they jump through federal hoops and according to how much pull their senators and representatives have in Congress.

It's a great system. For every dollar you give to the Federal government, 10 cents comes back to the bureaucracy in your State. If you are in California, one penny of each dollar goes to Diane Feinstein. Can't get any better than that.