Posted on 01/14/2014 9:59:19 AM PST by IbJensen
(CNSNews.com) - Former U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says unless Congress acts, the Highway Trust Fund will run out of money at the end of fiscal 2014 -- "because people are driving less, driving more fuel-efficient cars, and the gas tax hasn't been raised in many years."
Monies in the Trust Fund fund -- derived mostly from excise taxes on gasoline and other fuels -- fund the federal government's highway and mass transit projects.
"And if Congress doesn't step up and either increase the gas tax, they will have to take the money out of the general fund. And the point is that the gas tax has not been raised since '93," LaHood told Fox New's Neil Cavuto on Monday.
He said if the gas tax had been indexed to inflation in 1993, "we wouldn't be talking about this. My idea is, let's raise the gas tax."
The Congressional Budget Office reported last July that since 2000, spending from the Highway Trust Fund has generally outpaced revenue collections, so fund balances have fallen over that period.
"The current trajectory of the Highway Trust Fund is unsustainable," the CBO report said. Starting in fiscal year 2015, it said, the trust fund will have insufficient resources to meet all of its obligations, resulting in steadily accumulating shortfalls.
But LaHood said the United States needs the money to improve its infrastructure. President Obama also has called for "infrastructure "investments" to put Americans back to work.
"We built the interstate with the Highway Trust Fund," LaHood said on Monday. "We built the Hoover Dam. We built the Golden Gate Bridge. We're number 16 right now in terms of infrastructure. We used to be number one."
Neil Cavuto noted that billions of dollars in tolls and fees and state and local gasoline taxes also are earmarked for infrastructure improvements, in addition to what the Highway Trust Fund provides: "Methinks that someone is absconding with a lot of that money," he told LaHood.
"Well, I -- I think that's a little ridiculous to say that," LaHood responded. "Taxes that are collected at the local and state level go for local and state roads. Taxes that are collected for tolls go to maintain the toll roads."
And what about the billions of dollars in stimulus funds that went to road projects across the country?
"Yes, $48 billion," LaHood said. "I'm very proud, Neil, that while I was at DOT, we spent $48 billion. We put 65,000 people to work doing 15,000 projects. You never heard any bad stories about the money being misspent.
"America is one big pothole, Neil. If we don't come up with the money, we're in no way, shape or form going to have the money to fix up the potholes."
According to LaHood, "We need people to step up, provide some leadership, and come up with the money. That's what we have always done in America."
The July 2013 CBO report noted that since 2008, Congress has avoided shortfalls in the Highway Trust Fund by transferring $41 billion from the Treasury's general fund to the Trust Fund. An additional $12.6 billion is supposed to be transferred in 2014.
The report said lawmakers "could address shortfalls by substantially reducing spending for surface transportation programs, by boosting revenues, or by adopting some combination of the two approaches."
Notably, the CBO report also mentions a congestion tax, which means highway users would pay tolls that vary, depending on traffic volume: "Implementing such a user fee would reduce demand for future spending by providing an incentive to use those roads less during congested periods," the CBO said.
If this Hood character receives ANY type of government pension, let's eliminate it. Bronco should have his pay reduced to zero as well as his expense budget. Let Moochie cook, wash dishes and clean the White Hut.
Eliminate foreign aid payments. That should fill more than just a few potholes. While at it most agencies of the central communist government should be eliminated. All taxes should be slashed to the bone and the tax on corporate products should be eliminated.
What asshats! They want Americans to use less oil then tax them for doing it!
Here's yet another ex-Illinois tax hawk pressing his thinking on the rest of the United States. Take a look at Illinois pitiful road condition; do we really want the same on a national basis?
let’s get rid of the gas tax.
They won’t be satisfied until we have fuel tax like in Europe (mostly 60-70 percent of the price at the pump).
Let’s Raise the Gas Tax’
There is a winning campaign slogan!
I suggest every democrat and rino use it.
The only man in the country with even dumber ideas for transportation than Choo Choo Obama.
Hey Hood! Tax this! (writer makes rude gesture with right hand, and middle finger, while muttering deprecating adjectives)
I thought Obama fixed all the roads in the nation with the TARP or one of those programs Ray?
“...let’s get rid of the gas tax.”
:::::::::::
Let’s get rid of radical liberal tax-and-spend politicians!
Diesel costs me more each month than food. If you want the economy to soar, lower gas (fuel) prices. Lower electrical costs. Low cost energy made American’s wealthy. it gave us the freedom to live wherever we wanted instead of being tied to the bus line or walking distance to the train stations.
Of course that’s exactly the kind of control the Left wants over us. They’d like to keep us figuratively barefoot and pregnant. (Except we’d get free abortions as our God given right. Or, possibly Gia given right.)
Stop wasting the gas tax money on trolly cars and 70mph “High Speed Rail” boondoggles.
We can cure this by requiring everyone to buy Chevy Suburbans and drive them at least 15,000 miles per year.
How about eliminating the federal gas tax and allow states to do their Constitutional duty of handling roads. Maybe we wouldn't be running out of money if the feds weren't passing out gas tax money to every podunk town that wants to replace their curbs at intersections.
Hell, LaHood was pimping for canals a few years back.
And we wonder why we have to buy CHEAP Made in China crap...cuz we have to pay taxes, ss & Medicare, state and local taxes, taxes on utilities and just about everything else.
You’ve hit the nail on the proverbial head, Karl!
Get this damned central communist government under control, but it had better be quick and must include dragging the scum that occupies the White Hut out by his heels.
While at it the 1,000 staffers who fill up the White Hut and the annex need to be shown the street!
Next: Congress and the Supreme Kort!
“And we wonder why we have to buy CHEAP Made in China crap...cuz we have to pay taxes, ss & Medicare, state and local taxes, taxes on utilities and just about everything else.”
When I last had employees of my own, the cost was 1.45 times their actual pay. I’m sure it’s more now as I didn’t supply insurance. At GD they paid about $7,500 and I paid about $3,300 per year for a gold plated policy (that today would be taxed by Obamacare.) On average the insurance package added between 10-20% of total compensation.
If you have a business that required yearly tax payments then that’s a significant business expense. Then the government insists you have bonds and other things. A few months ago I called five pluming companies and the first four were out of business. (They’d mostly been in business for at least the 15 years I’ve been in town.)
The burden of the government’s piece of the cake very hard on the baker.
5.56mm
So, they raise gas taxes to punish people for driving too much, in inefficient cars. So the people drive less, in more efficient cars, and get punished for THAT!
Didn’t we just have a trillion dollar slush fund aimed at repairing infrastructure? If giving these federal a-holes a TRILLION DOLLARS didn’t fix the potholes why would I believe a few billion in gas taxes would fix the problem?
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