Tom Warne Report, 29 October 2013
WASHINGTON – An influential business group in Washington is calling for an increase to the federal gas tax to help repair roads and bridges.
“Twenty years. It’s been 20 years since we had an increase in the federal fuel tax. What kind of car were you driving 20 years ago?” asked Thomas Donahue, president of the Chamber of Commerce on Monday.
Donohue said Congress needs to look at raising the federal gas tax to pay for major infrastructure projects. While a higher gasoline tax would be highly unpopular in a nation where 90% of people drive to work, it is one of the few economic policy ideas that big labor groups and big business groups agree on.
The last federal gas tax hike was on Oct. 1, 1993, to 18.4 cents per gallon where it stands today. The tax brings in about $30 billion annually for the nation, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.
Some say the prospect of raising the gas tax could be gaining momentum.
Former Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said at a conference in Arlington, Va., that Congress should raise the federal gas tax by 10 cents a gallon. He suggested that to just make a “scratch” in the nation’s infrastructure needs, the U.S. would need to raise close to $500 billion or $600 billion.
The chamber has been pushing to hike the federal gas tax for 4 years, but Congress has not moved any plan forward thus far. A Gallup poll in April found two-thirds of Americans are against a gas tax hike of up to 20 cents, even if it went toward infrastructure improvements.
Now that Ray LaHood is no longer in office he can say what he probably wanted to say when he was U.S. Secretary of Transportation. Regardless, this appears to be a hard sell, not only for lawmakers, but also the public at large. JN