Posted on 07/12/2014 12:35:05 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
While the House and the Senate this week issued measures intended to temporarily replenish the Highway Trust Fund before it runs out of money next month, Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) ended the week by proposing to hike - then abolish - the federal fuel tax and replace it with a per-mile “fee.”
“The policy development that I’m most excited about and that will reinforce the right practices for the future: After we raise the gas tax, we should abolish it,” Blumenauer said on Friday at the liberal Center for American Progress in Washington, D.C. “The time is right to replace the gas tax, because it’s no longer an accurate reflection of road use and benefit because of these wildly changing fuel consumption patterns, and replace it with a vehicle mile travel fee regardless of the choice of vehicle fuel.
(VIDEO-AT-LINK)
“That technology is available,” said Blumenauer, whose home state of Oregon has already had pilot vehicle mile travel fee programs in place for a decade.
And although Blumenauer did not take questions at the event, he attempted to deflect criticism about the vehicle mile travel fee being disadvantageous to rural Americans who not only don’t have access to public transportation but also need cars or trucks to operate their businesses.
“That’s exactly the reverse of reality,” Blumenauer said. “Our continued reliance on single-occupant vehicles in too much of America and on gallons of fuel consumed to pay for it places rural and small town Americans at a significant disadvantage, because today too many of them have no alternatives to driving.
Blumenauer said “gas-sipping” people who drive hybrid or electric cars tend to be urban-dwelling and more affluent, while rural Americans tend to drive less fuel-efficient cars.
“They are caught at the opposite end of this transportation spending spiral – paying more and more while the rest pay less and less,” Blumenauer said.
The debate in Congress about how to keep the Highway Trust Fund solvent has been going on for decades, and the current federal gas tax of 18.4 cents per gallon has not been increased since 1993, according to the Department of Transportation.
Many proposals have been made over the years, including by Blumenauer, who last year held a press conference to announce his plan for increasing the federal fuel tax to 33.4 cents a gallon for gas and 42.8 cents a gallon for diesel, according to a Dec. 4, 2013 Washington Post report.
“Every credible independent report indicates that we are not meeting the demands of our stressed and decaying infrastructure system — roads, bridges and transit,” Blumenauer said in the Washington Post article. “Congress hasn’t dealt seriously with the funding issue for 20 years.
“With inflation and increased fuel efficiency, especially for some types of vehicles, there is no longer a good relationship between what road users pay and how much they benefit,” Blumenauer said.
Also in December 2013, Blumenauer introduced H.R. 3638, the Road Usage Fee Pilot Program Act of 2013, to enact a mileage-based federal gas tax. The bill was referred to committee.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that the House put forth measures to replenish funding for the Highway Trust Fund’s road, bridge and mass transit projects by transferring $10.8 billion in transportation funds using “financing mechanisms unrelated to transportation.” That bill would extend funding through May 2015.
The Senate voted Thursday to use similar funding strategies but also included language to improve compliance with existing laws not related to transportation such as collecting delinquent Medicare payments from health care providers and tightening rules for mortgage-interest deductions, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Blumenauer said at CAP that higher taxes are needed to improve the U.S. infrastructure.
“America is literally falling apart, while we’re fast losing what used to be a competitive edge with superior infrastructure,” Blumenauer said.
It’s a racket, as they say.
Here in NJ, we spend, per mile more the twice as much as the next state in spending per mile, California.
I think we’re something like 8x the average or so.
Well, set up a Federal spending program, have the mob do the work, and gee, what could go wrong ?
Granted, NJ does have drastic weather changes and tons of traffic, but that simply means roads should be constructed to handle the load.
Newark NJ’s airport’s runways are massively thick concrete with good beds under them. They take the beating of airplane takeoffs and landings fine.
There are roads made by the Romans that are still usable today.
Here in NJ for our highways, we make sure they need to be reworked every few years.
We allllwwways have some cones up somewhere.
Wink, nod, etc.
Of course, mass transit, that’s the special domain of new world order elite finance. It’s all about taking a cut of the whole operation via interest on bonds, having quasi-governmental “authorities” set up for patronage and power, keeping out all competition, etc. They like to ship their sheeple on trains, they have since the early 1800’s. Look up the Great Western Railway in the UK; Richard Potter, railroad magnate - his daughter was the patroness of Fabian Socialism.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Potter_%28businessman%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beatrice_Webb
Great Western issued millions in railway bonds, had great political influence, etc. Same deal as today in America.
Great communist that she was, Beatrice somehow never gave up her own wealth, strange as it was.
People in the future will be just as “mystified” about how Hollywood elites talk about all their green energy, yet fly in private jets, live in massive mansions, etc.
Hell I had to drive 60 miles one way just to get to work...very seldom less than 15.... Commercial construction..
and only require a RFID tag on the windshield.
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I’d love that ... I’d visit a lot with gov’t owned vehicles , interrogate their RFID tags and make clones ... I’ll be rich within a month.
They want us in city centers alright. But that is only to control us and make us easily accessible at slaughter time. The Nazis did that to the Jews in Eastern and Western Europe. They moved them to Warsaw, Poland until space at the death camps became available. Nothing new here. Names change, but the methods remain the same.
It is one thing to tax the operation of a motor vehicle by the mile, it is another thing to do so by requiring a GPS tracking device. The danger here is that in the process of taxation, government also destroys the right to travel in private.
I would like to see the total amount of any kind taken if for the funding of highway upkeep. Then I’d like to see the total amount spent on upkeep only....no bureaucratic salaries, no pensions, no advertising. I just want the total amount spent on actual construction projects.
“Another option would be to abolish the federal gas tax and turn over highway financing and maintenance to the states and private toll roads.”
Winner, winner! Chicken Dinner!
And will the Republicans use this in the coming elections, to attack democraps GENERALLY... sadly, most won’t even think of doing it and those few who do will shy away from it.
So, I pay 18.4 cents a gallon tax on my gasoline. 10 gallon tank, $1.84 per tank. 300 miles per tank. Basically I pay 1.63 cents per mile in taxes already.
How much per mile do they want to charge me after they eliminate the gas tax and go with a per mile tax?
Funny how they don’t mention that.
Ha...they tried this in Germany....a GPS system to tax trucks in transit around and through Germany...
Big FAIL...they spent multi millions of dollars and abandoned the project.
Yes... add GPS trackers and then your little tin foil hats will work wonders when placed appropriately...:^)
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