Excerpted from AP, “Motorists’ habits spur call for tax increases”, January 2, 2009
Motorists are driving less and buying less gasoline, which means fuel taxes aren’t raising enough money to keep pace with the cost of road, bridge and transit programs.
The dilemma for Congress is that highway and transit programs are dependent for revenue on fuel taxes that are not sustainable. Many Americans are driving less and switching to more fuel-efficient cars and trucks, and a shift to new fuels and technologies like plug-in hybrid electric cars will further erode gasoline sales.
A federal commission created by Congress to find a way to make up the growing revenue shortfall in the program that funds highway repairs and construction is talking about increasing federal gas and diesel taxes.
To close the gap of over $100 billion per year, the commission recommends a roughly 50 percent increase in gasoline and diesel fuel taxes (currently 18.4 cents per gallon and 24.4 cents per gallon, respectively) is being urged by the commission until the government devises another way for motorists to pay for using public roads.
The commission will urge Congress to raise the gas tax by 10 cents a gallon (from 18.4 cents to 28.4 cents) and the diesel tax by about 12 cents to 15 cents a gallon (from 24.4 cents to 39.4 cents).
The commission will also recommend that states raise their fuel taxes and make greater use of toll roads and fees for rush-hour driving.
The commission also recommends moving to a new system that taxes motorists according to how much they use roads. While details have not been worked out, such a system would mean equipping every car and truck with a device that uses global positioning satellites and transponders to record how many miles the vehicle has been driven, and perhaps the type of roads and time of day.
[Ken’s Note: Are these the same folks who thought the Patriot Act infringed on privacy ?]
Projected shortfalls in revenue led the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission, in a report issued in January 2008, to call for an increase of as much as 40 cents a gallon in the gas tax, phased in over five years.
Full article:
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/090102/gas_tax.html?printer=1
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January 6, 2009 at 9:47 am |
Why don’t we stop using the highway trust fund to finance pubic transit projects (like light rail) that don’t take cars off the road and don’t come close to paying for their operating costs?
January 6, 2009 at 10:44 pm |
Unsurprising, isn’t it, that there isn’t one option noted in that article that revolves around cutting costs…