Posted on 01/12/2015 4:18:37 PM PST by ash-housewares
Gas prices are plunging across the country, a product of surging U.S. energy production that has put the country in the same company as Saudi Arabia and Russia.
However, in a strange twist of fate, that same dynamic is bringing to the fore a topic once thought to be anathema, especially in a Republican-dominated Congress: higher gas taxes.
The drop in fuel prices has occurred for a record 102 consecutive days, according to the AAA, putting more than $14 billion of disposable income in consumers' pockets. However, the federal gas tax has been lodged at 18.4 cents for more than two decades, which helps fund what some estimates project could be more than $1 trillion in infrastructure spending needs in the coming years.
The idea of boosting the current rate has become Washington's latest political football, as proponents argue that consumers can absorb the hike, and that the money is needed to fund improvements to roads, bridges and tunnels. Although still in the theoretical stages, the talk was apparently serious enough for House Speaker John Boehner to flatly rule out a tax hike just this week.
So what's changed?
"Congressional leadership is hearing from local delegations, governors in particular," about the need for more federal funds to lift infrastructure, said Paul Afonso, the energy, utilities and environmental group practice leader at Brown Rudnick in Boston.
In recent days, the Republican governors of Massachusetts and Iowa have both moved to bolster infrastructure funding, and may be eyeing even more cash infusions.
"There's a critical need and pressure that congressional delegations are getting from office holders [at the state level] to have this money come back to them," said Afonso, a former Massachusetts utilities regulator. "That's where some of the pressure and advocacy is coming from."
Boehner's coolness to the idea of a higher gas tax hasn't stopped a growing number of other GOP caucus members from adding support to an idea that has long enjoyed wide Democratic backing. In the last week alone, at least three high-ranking Senate Republicans have publicly flirted with the possibility.
API: We won't rule out a gas tax bump As far as strange political bedfellows go, the senators are far from alone. In a conference call with reporters this week, the American Petroleum Institute, the oil and gas industry organization that normally embraces market-based energy policies, said it was neutral on the idea of hiking gas taxes. API president Jack Gerard told reporters that the lobbying group "never opposed" a gas tax hike, but argued that policymakers needed to look beyond just funding road and bridge projects.
He added that the U.S. energy boom raised the necessity for oil and gas pipelines should also benefit from an infusion of federal funding, leaving open the prospect that the API could back a hike in the gas tax.
"We do believe we should look at infrastructure beyond the historic ways of viewing it for bridges and roads and say to ourselves, what about pipelines?" Gerard asked. "What about rail build-out? What about that other infrastructure necessary to make our market more efficient as an energy producer, an energy superpower?"
Surging oil and gas production, combined with popular support for energy pipelines—polls show broad public backing for the long-stalled Keystone XL project, a bill for which passed the House on Friday in the face of a veto threat from the White House—could add to the impetus for a gas tax hike, especially if traditional foes of higher taxes are warming to the idea.
Investment vehicles have raised billions, but North America's energy infrastructure is projected to need nearly $300 billion worth of new pipelines over the next 20 years, according to a 2014 study by the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America. Still, some question whether the public could get behind using public money to fund a sector flush with private capital.
"One can demonstrate the value of defining infrastructure as gas pipelines," said Afonso. However, "it's not what most consumers and voters are used to. Adding the complexity of pipelines will make it that more difficult to pass more legislation."
votes for what , what bill? this is propaganda from NBC news . this article is from NBC and you all take it as fact.
All I’ve seen is the new Congress which is more Republican put out bills to defund amnesty, ban abortion and pass the keystone pipeline etc all conservative positions.what liberal bill have the new more Republican Congress passed since they took office this year? . you all forget the previous Congress had a democrat Senate and almost 50% of the House democrats.
what bill have they passed? You know Obama wants higher taxes. so why don’t they pass tax increases, amnnesty right now why ?
All I’ve seen is the new Congress which is more Republican put out bills to defund amnesty, ban abortion and pass the keystone pipeline etc all conservative positions.what liberal bill have the new more Republican Congress passed since they took office this year? . you all forget the previous Congress had a democrat Senate and almost 50% of the House democrats.
Have republicans forgotten what happened to Bush-41?
It sure looks like it.
This article is from NBC news. There’s been no bill proposed. this is just propaganda from NBC news “divide and conquer”
Don't sweat it. The hydrocarbons in the ground will still be there when oil prices again rise. Unlike conventional oil, shutting down a fracking operation does not materially affect the long-term recoverable reserves in the field.
A few producers may go belly-up (but their rigs will be acquired by other, better capitalized producers), while others will be reorganized in bankruptcy court, emerging with a more favorable debt structure when prices rebound - as they will.
They’d better not, you talk about pissing on those who brought you?
Understood.
However there are other sources reporting that republicans do not stand united against the idea of such a tax increase.
It may sound improbable but they have acted stupidly before.
See:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/01/11/gas-tax-infrastructure-funding-puts-some-daylight-between-gop-house-senate/
"But at least four Senate Republicans -- Bob Corker, Tenn.; James Inhofe, Okla.; Orrin Hatch, Utah; and John Thune, S.D. -- appear open to the idea of increasing the tax."
“GOP warms to gas tax hike”
Google that.
Read.
I’ll give you the first one:
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/228986-momentum-seen-in-push-for-gas-tax-hike
Our voters won't let us tax them more, so you tax them for us!
The gas tax remains the same regardless of the price at the pump. As the price to the consumer drops, consumption of gas goes up, tax revenues increase.
I can’t wait for summer to come so we can go out pleasure driving like old times. Whoopie!!
which bill passed?
none
The House nor Senate has not passed any tax increase bill nor put any tax increase bill for a vote. so this NBC article and any buzz that the media creates is just propaganda .
The House nor Senate has not passed any gasoline tax increase bill nor put any tax increase bill for a vote. so this NBC article and any buzz that the media creates is just propaganda .the media creates this buzz to try to get the House to do something it wants and to divide conservatives against Republicans
The GOPe knows they are spending too much and have to find a way to raise taxes to fund it. Paul Ryan already agreed to new taxes in a budget deal with Dems called “airline fees” in the last session of Congress....
Yet.
Time to realize that 1/2 of the government is not your friend and is not on your side.
I’m pretty sure that Republicans have already divided themselves from conservatives about as well as could possibly be done.
The technology and equipment will still be around even if the companies aren’t in a couple of years and will bounce back quickly with a price rise. OPEC isn’t going to be able to ride that pony easily anymore.
I’d also bet a few loser dictatorships are going to feel the squeeze when they come up short on the payola to keep their masses complacent...
You are making liberal media buzz your reality. so they control your mind.there is no tax increase bill no matter how many times you and NBC say there is.
No difference between what you are saying and what NBC is saying . just propaganda. there is no tax increase bill . why is the media making such a bill deal on this if there is no bill. the media are the rulers and the problem.
fact is the Republican congress has not passed any tax increase bill nor any socialist bill since they took office this year. They just passed Keystone pipeline in the House, Tomorow a vote on defunding amnesty etc. no socialist bills as you would have us believe.
That’s right, they won’t have a gas tax bill— it will be a users fee in the highway bill.
“no socialist bills as you would have us believe.”
Show me where I said that was, or you are a liar.
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