Posted on 02/27/2009 4:39:27 AM PST by Scanian
WASHINGTON -- Raise federal gasoline taxes to help pay for road projects?
Not during a recession, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has said.
Then how about moving toward a system that finances highway construction by charging motorists by the mile?
When LaHood suggested last week that be considered among other potential financing schemes, he got bushwhacked by the White House. "It is not and will not be the policy of the Obama administration," the president's press secretary said.
With the administration's position seemingly clear, a special commission created by Congress is nonetheless endorsing those two ideas.
Its report Thursday warns that if government fails to find a new way to raise money, "we will suffer grim consequences in the future: unimaginable levels of congestion, reduced safety, costlier goods and services, an eroded quality of life, and diminished economic competitiveness as a nation."
The National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission says the current 18.4 cents a gallon gas tax and 24.4 cents a gallon diesel tax are not raising enough money to keep pace with the cost of highway, bridge and transit projects. The commission proposes lifting the gasoline tax by 10 cents per gallon and the diesel tax by 15 cents per gallon, and adjusting both for inflation.
The report also says fuel taxes increasingly will become a less reliable way to pay for highway construction as people drive more fuel efficient vehicles and the number of electric and alternative fuel cars and trucks grows.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
City folks need to get food and package delivery, too. Guess who uses the most mileage? Truck drivers. That won’t be trickled down to the cost of the consumer or cause delays when businesses can no longer afford to bring product in. The last is /sarc folks.
Except that they are not very blissful. They just refuse to place the blame where it belongs.
Capital idea. I’ve had ‘em and they were great for fertilizer, if nothing else. Always had beautiful vegetables and flowers.
Might not be his, but his Marxist congress will pass it and he will sign it.
True, but the thugs who rule Congress today are no ordinary fools. I think this draconian act would stimulate widespread resistance and noncompliance. As Huck pointed out, it would primarilly punish the non-city dwellers who also are likely to be non-Obamanoids
Don't forget all us red-state hicks in flyover country clinging to our Bibles and guns...When you live where it is a long ways to most anywhere, this will hurt.
It also strikes me that this is another step toward the UN's Agenda 21 'land use' (people control) goals for the US from long ago.
That’s right. They don’t need or want any of us, except for revenues. And scapegoats.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.