We need a higher gas tax.
So says Robert Atkinson, head of the National Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission.
The commission is requesting to raise the tax an additional 10 cents per gallon, on top of the 18.4 cents per gallon we already pay at the federal level. That’s not including the average 29 cents we pay on a state basis.
It also suggests that more “aggressive toll” rates and “congestion pricing” should be raised, so people who drive in congested areas would pay more than those who travel in less congested areas.
Do they think people want to drive in congested areas? That they, for the purpose of employment, use crowded tunnels, highways and bridges, have a realistic choice but to use those areas?
“Record high fuel prices and and economic slowdown caused sharp declines in driving by Americans in fiscal 2008, lowering the revenue collected for the fund, but federal highway spending rose $2 billion. The Highway Trust Fund took in $31 billion between October 2007 and September 2008, $3 billion less than the prior year“.
This is a liberal’s wet dream coupled with Obama’s push for “repair” of our “crumbling infrastructure”.
Due to high gas prices, we drove less (making global warming kooks happy, but that’s another issue), thereby reducing revenue. Now, they say we need more taxes to make up for that lack of revenue.
Do they think that people who have to drive from point A to point B are going to take an alternate, more difficult route, relieving congestion? This is what’s called a tax increase for the middle class. The vast majority of people commuting in these areas are just average citizens trying to get to and from work. It’s not those eeeeevil CEOs who will foot the bill.
It’s similar to tobacco taxes. Smoking is bad for you, but the less people smoke, the less money is generated for the “gubmint”. (Knowing it’s so bad, then why not ban it?)
Before gas prices rose and Americans drove those big SUVs and other gas guzzlers, the revenue collected must have been historically high. What happened to all that extra money?
It’s also suggested that “America must shift to a system whereby Americans pay for the number of miles they drive instead of being taxed per gallon of gasoline. Under such a system people would pay more for driving in some areas such as heavily congested freeways and less in areas such as rural highways.“
Sounds a bit “Orwellian” to me.
Scary.
