Posted on 07/28/2008 7:43:48 AM PDT by TornadoAlley3
The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), meeting in New Orleans Friday, approved a motion to call on Congress to shore up the diminishing Highway Trust Fund with an increase in the federal gas tax.
Last hiked in 1993, the 18.4-cent tax is the primary funding source for federal highway projects. Increased use of fuel-efficient vehicles and non-petroleum fuels as well as cutbacks Americans have made on their driving have negatively impacted the revenue collected from the tax.
"The time has come for policymakers at all levels of government to take a serious look at transportation funding," Oregon State Sen. Bruce Starr, R, said in a statement. "An under funded transportation system threatens our nation's economic growth and global competitiveness as well as the safety, and quality of life all across America."
Some transportation experts, like Robert Poole of the Los Angeles-based Reason Foundation, doubt that increasing the federal gas tax would work best to provide the revenue that highway programs across the U.S. need.
The tax, he says, cannot adequately make up for the higher gas mileage achieved by many newer fuel-efficient cars and is not charged at a higher rate for cars that travel on heavily congested highways.
Reason favors the use of privately operated tolling on congested roads to address any shortfalls in the transportation infrastructure funding.
NCSL additionally wants federal lawmakers to consider a vehicle miles traveled (VMT) fee that would cost each driver an amount based on how many miles he or she has driven in a state. A VMT pilot program was recently started in Mr. Starr's home state.
Idiots, all of them, both state and federal!
IIRC: My state (NY) charges on the dollar. Cut the Federal state aid to NY and the other states who charge on the dollar.
Here’s a hint. How about using the funds already collected for the actual highways, and not greenbelts, bikepaths, walking paths and open space.
Yeah, they can sneak in a few pennies themselves and blame it all on the Feds.
The hidden scandal here is that paving contractors totally control how roads will be repaired. They do no want *any* means of repairing roads that will last more than a short time, and nationwide, billions of dollars are at stake.
Even back in the 1970s, Phillips Petroleum came up with a simple solution to making extremely durable roadbed. Basically, just laying down a sheet of a Kevlar-like material before applying asphalt, would make the road bed extraordinarily durable, and it would last between four and five times longer than typical road without maintenance. It would cost only about twice as much as typical roadway.
By Phillips was not alone in this. There are any number of inexpensive fixes that can be used to make much higher quality road that lasts far longer than what we use now. But they are all prohibited because of fierce opposition at the State and federal level by the paving contractors.
So Americans have to pay through the nose for sky high gasoline and diesel taxes, to subsidize an industry that gives us a shoddy product that doesn’t last.
Yep...let’s just kill the economy even more.
doesn’t pay to save on your gas and driving they will always find a way to get the money back.
So the Rats don’t want us to drill and cut consumption, and when we do they raise taxes. If we do change over to alternative fuels, how then will they tax us, by the mile?
Yeah, I know. I'm delusional.
Right - hike the tax, fewer people will drive then hike the tax again because revenue falls ....
Why can't they just raise their own taxes? Money doesn't become holy when baptized in the waters of the Potomac. If Ohio needs highway money, then just raise the Ohio tax. Don't raise the federal tax and hope that Ohio's Congresspigs are better able to push their way to the front of the trough to get their fair share. That also avoids silliness like Alaska's bridge to nowhere and West Virginia's Robert Byrd highway/freeway/pike/road/drive/avenue/boulevard/street/expressway/bike path/foot path/goat path/bridge/culvert and anything else that can be named for him with federal money.
The federal govt not wanting to maintain federal highways? Some things the states cannot touch, or require a federal match to fix. I agree with you if it is state responsibility, raise your own state gas tax.
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.