Panel Proposes 40-Cent Gas-Tax Boost
Federal fuel taxes should be boosted as much as 40 cents a gallon to finance highway, bridge and transit work, a panel created by Congress said Tuesday, Bloomberg reported.
The increase, which would be phased in over five years, would help pay for at least $225 billion a year in transportation construction and repairs by government and business, Bloomberg reported.
Commission Vice Chairman Jack Schenendorf said the group could no longer allow for revenues to be stagnant, Bloomberg reported.
But Transportation Secretary Mary Peters, who chaired the 12-member National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission, said the increases were unnecessary. She was joined by two other panel members in rejecting the tax increases.
The federal gasoline tax is currently 18.4 cents a gallon, while the diesel tax is 24.4 cents per gallon.
“Raising gas taxes won’t improve traffic congestion, it will only perpetuate our ineffective reliance on fossil-based fuels to fund infrastructure and send more of Americans’ hard-earned money to Washington to be squandered on earmarks and special interest programs,” Peters said in a statement released by DOT.
“A better way forward is to provide incentives to states willing to pursue more efficient approaches and to invest federal funds more effectively to give commuters real relief from gridlock,” she said.
American Trucking Associations applauded the report’s acknowledgement of trucking as the dominant form of freight movement.
“Fixing our infrastructure problems is, without question, a significant financial undertaking,” ATA President Bill Graves said in a statement. “Current revenue streams are failing to keep pace with infrastructure needs [and the] . . . report illustrates that any increased investment must be coupled with systematic reforms, which would be essential to any long-term solution.”
