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Increasing the Federal Gasoline Tax

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Started 1 year ago by News
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News
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Transportation groups want to increase gas tax

By ADAM SNIDER | 10/31/11 10:23 PM EDT

For the first time in two decades, major transportation groups have banded together and made a request that, in other circumstances, would be considered crazy — “Tax us … NOW.”

But the answer from Congress and the White House has been a resounding “No!”

It’s a fact of Washington: Politicians need cover before voting for most anything controversial, especially a tax increase. But even that is not always enough, much to the chagrin of advocates of a large hike in transportation infrastructure funding supported by a gas tax increase.

READ MORE: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1011/67263.html

Posted 1 year ago #
columbusmike

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I agree the gas tax needs to be raised. However, now is not the time to hit people with a sudden large tax increase....it needs to be done over time with a small percentage increase every year...maybe over 10 years. This would also encourage people to live closer to the $#!& they go to (school, work, grocery)....what a novel idea. It might even encourage a boom in urban development, much like sprawl boosted our economy for the last 70 years or so.

Posted 1 year ago #
Walker
The KLD / Downtown / Gay Street
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I've never really read into this issue a whole lot, but I wonder if any proposed tax increase could be earmarked to be used specifically for existing road maintenance rather than new roads?

Posted 1 year ago #
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With Gas Tax on Empty U.S. Must Find New Way to Fund Roads: View
By the Editors Feb 26, 2012 7:00 PM ET

Washington is now arguing over several bad new ways to pay for transportation infrastructure in the U.S. But despite their deficiencies, recent proposals from the White House, the Senate and the House offer a few ideas worth considering as part of a more ambitious funding bill down the road, when a looming election isn’t inducing timidity and self-delusion.

Most glaringly, what all three proposals lack is a realistic or long-term source of funding. The White House hopes to pay for its six-year, $476 billion plan by “ramping down overseas military operations.” The Senate’s two-year, $109 billion bipartisan measure would invoke such exotic revenue sources as raiding the Leaking Underground Storage Tank Trust Fund, also known as the LUST Trust Fund, and taxing imported Malaysian cars.

READ MORE: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-27/with-gas-tax-on-empty-u-s-must-find-new-way-to-fund-roads-view.html

Posted 1 year ago #
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Gas Tax Debate Weighs Heavily On Future Of ODOT
June 15, 2012
by Karen Kasler
Statehouse Bureau Chief, Ohio Public Radio and Television

The state’s transportation agency is facing a long road of trouble – a growing need to build and repair infrastructure with a declining revenue source in the gas tax. But there’s plenty of disagreement over whether to hike the tax. Communities around Ohio were stunned earlier this year when ODOT announced a $1.6 billion hole in its construction budget, and that it would have to delay many major projects for years.

READ MORE: http://beta.wosu.org/news/2012/06/15/gas-tax-debate-weighs-heavily-on-future-of-odot/

Posted 11 months ago #
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$1 Gas Tax? One Auto Dealer Says, ‘Yes, Please’
By Coral Davenport
Updated: August 9, 2012 | 4:18 p.m.

MONROVIA, Calif.—Drive to the southeast edge of Los Angeles and you’ll hit miles of gleaming car lots, lined up beside the smoggy 210 freeway. These represent the heart of the Southern California car market—which auto dealers say is the most competitive in the world. That makes sense: California has more drivers than any other state, and driving is ingrained in the Golden State’s identity. Californians built the country’s first freeway; they invented drag-racing and the drive-in restaurant.

But as much as Californians drive, they also pay dearly for it: California has some of the highest gasoline prices in the nation. This spring, as gasoline prices shot to a national average of $3.90 a gallon, they went over $5 a gallon in Southern California.

So why would a Southern California car dealer want to raise taxes on gasoline?

READ MORE: http://nationaljournal.com/features/restoration-calls/-1-gas-tax-one-auto-dealer-says-yes-please--20120809

Posted 9 months ago #
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If Pols Won’t Raise the Gas Tax, How Else Will They Fund Transportation?
Friday, February 1, 2013
by Angie Schmitt

This year, we’ve seen a range of new transportation revenue-raising proposals from Massachusetts, Virginia, and Pennsylvania, where governors are all pursuing options other than raising the gas tax. Welcome to the new paradigm in transportation funding, says David Goldberg at Transportation for America:

READ MORE: http://streetsblog.net/2013/02/01/if-pols-wont-raise-the-gas-tax-how-else-will-they-fund-transportation/

Posted 3 months ago #
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Gasoline prices expected to go up, forecast shows
By Associated Press business staff
on February 12, 2013

First it was a tax hike. Now consumers are looking at a higher than expected gasoline bill for 2013. The government on Tuesday boosted its forecast for gasoline prices this year by 11 cents to an average of $3.55 a gallon. That would be the second-highest annual average ever, behind last year's $3.63 a gallon.

READ MORE: http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2013/02/gasoline_prices_expected_to_go.html

Posted 3 months ago #
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Why a Sales Tax on Gasoline Makes Sense
By Theodore Brown on 15 February 2013

Progressive policy makers have a creativity problem. It’s not that they’re stuck in an unimaginative funk where new ideas are simply recycled old ones that include some sort of social media strategy. Rather, it’s the theory that every policy suggestion has to be revolutionary or novel, backed up by data that was previously unavailable or unremarkable, and implemented by way of buzzwords and viral marketing. Basics aren’t viable anymore, which is probably why there’s such an issue getting even basic movement on pressing issues.

READ MORE: http://thisbigcity.net/why-a-sales-tax-on-gasoline-makes-sense/

Posted 3 months ago #
billbix

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I think they are going to have to start looking beyond gas. My neighbor just got a Chevy volt and it rides pretty nicely. If the prices drop, I would look into a Nissan Leaf as our second car.

Posted 3 months ago #
hugh59
Aboard the ultimate power in Olde Towne East
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billbix said:
I think they are going to have to start looking beyond gas. My neighbor just got a Chevy volt and it rides pretty nicely. If the prices drop, I would look into a Nissan Leaf as our second car.

I bike or walk to work. I drive about 4, 000 miles per year. Mae drives. We just need to find her a job downtown.

Posted 2 months ago #
bucki12
wp
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4k seems like a lot of miles if you aren't using it to get to work.

Posted 2 months ago #
hugh59
Aboard the ultimate power in Olde Towne East
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Well, about 1,200 of my miles are for charity. And there is not a lot if shopping or groceries available in Olde Towne East

Posted 2 months ago #
DavidF
Elysium Fields
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I'd love it if I could keep my miles driven down to 4k. But then that's why I have my beat up Jetta diesel. 12 years old, 360,000 miles on the original engine and I still get 40+ miles to the gallon.

Starting to rust through, only half a front bumper, one hubcap, but I love her, I really do. Don't plan on getting another until she dies or I get to at least 500k.

That said, yes, higher gas taxes. Let drivers pay for their infrastructure just like they scream about any other form of transportation whenever there's a new proposal for rail, light rail, HSR, etc.

Posted 2 months ago #
leftovers

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I am fine with them raising the gas tax, but I agree that the future is probably electric vehicles or high efficiency hybrids. They need to start planning for that.

Posted 2 months ago #
InnerCore

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DavidF said:
That said, yes, higher gas taxes. Let drivers pay for their infrastructure just like they scream about any other form of transportation whenever there's a new proposal for rail, light rail, HSR, etc.

Agreed, case in point:

http://dc.streetsblog.org/2013/01/23/drivers-cover-just-51-percent-of-u-s-road-spending/

A new report from the Tax Foundation shows 50.7 percent of America’s road spending comes from gas taxes, tolls, and other fees levied on drivers. The other 49.3 percent? Well, that comes from general tax dollars, just like education and health care. The way we spend on roads has nothing to do with the free market, or even how much people use roads.

Even more interesting is to compare roads to Amtrak, a favorite target of self-styled fiscal conservatives in Congress. Amtrak recovers about 85 percent of its operating costs from tickets — a relative bargain compared to other modes. Even accounting for capital costs, Amtrak — which operates mostly on privately owned tracks — covers 69 percent of its total costs through ticket prices and other fees to users.

And were not at the top of the list when it comes to drivers paying their fair share:

The Tax Foundation also analyzed transportation spending in every state to determine which states subsidize their road systems the most through general taxes. Drivers in Delaware, Florida, New Jersey, North Carolina, and New York cover the highest share of road spending compared to drivers in other states.

So basically you have people driving around on subsidized highways that they aren't paying for complaining about other people wanting to build a less subsidized system.

Posted 2 months ago #
Snarf
Dystopia
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Ugh, can't they just tax cigarettes more!?

Posted 2 months ago #
ricospaz

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Snarf said:
Ugh, can't they just tax cigarettes more!?

Yeah! Sin tax! Wait, that means they'll tax my alcohol. NO!

Posted 2 months ago #
News
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Is Raising the Gas Tax Truly Politically Unpalatable?
POSTED BY RYAN HOLEYWELL | APRIL 22, 2013

As the surface transportation bill nears its expiration next year, you can expect to hear plenty of discussion about how, exactly, the feds will pay for transit and highways in FY 2015 and beyond. The issue, after all, is poised to be a salient one.

READ MORE: http://www.governing.com/blogs/view/gov-gas-tax-increase-hike-politically-unpalatable.html

Posted 2 weeks ago #