OF course they want to raise taxes... AGAIN

[schr8er2000]

WASHINGTON – 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.

That has the federal commission that oversees financing for transportation talking about increasing the federal fuel tax.

A 50 percent increase in gasoline and diesel fuel taxes is being urged by the commission to finance highway construction and repair until the government devises another way for motorists to pay for using public roads.

The National Commission on Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing, a 15-member panel created by Congress, is the second group in a year to call for increasing the current 18.4 cents a gallon federal tax on gasoline and the 24.4 cents a gallon tax on diesel. State fuel taxes vary from state to state.

In a report expected in late January, members of the infrastructure financing commission say they will urge Congress to raise the gas tax by 10 cents a gallon and the diesel tax by 12 cents to 15 cents a gallon. At the same time, the commission will recommend tying the fuel tax rates to inflation.

The commission will also recommend that states raise their fuel taxes and make greater use of toll roads and fees for rush-hour driving.

Although the cost of gasoline has dropped dramatically in recent months, such tax increases could be politically treacherous for Democratic leaders in Congress. A gas tax hike was one of the reasons they lost control of the House and Senate in the 1994 elections. President-elect Barack Obama has expressed concern about raising fuel taxes in the current economic climate.

But commission members said the government must find more road and bridge building money somewhere.

"I'm not excited about a gas tax increase, but the reality is our current gas tax doesn't pay for upkeep of the system we have now," said Adrian Moore, vice president of the Reason Foundation, a libertarian think tank in Los Angeles, and a member of the highway revenue commission. "We can either let the roads go to hell or we can pay more."

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.

According to a draft of the financing commission's recommendations, the nation needs to move to a new system that taxes motorists according to how much they use roads.

"Most if not all of the commissioners have a strong belief and commitment that we need a fundamental transformation of the current system," said commission chairman Robert Atkinson, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a technology policy think tank in Washington.

A study by the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies estimated that the annual gap between revenues and the investment needed to improve highway and transit systems was about $105 billion in 2007, and will increase to $134 billion in 2017 under current trends.

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.

Charles Whittington, chairman of the American Trucking Associations, which supports a fuel tax increase as long as the money goes to highway projects, said Congress may decide to disguise a fuel tax hike as a surcharge to combat climate change.

Transportation is responsible for about a third of all U.S. carbon emissions created by burning fossil fuels. Traffic congestion wastes an estimated 2.9 billion gallons of fuel a year. Less congestion would reduce greenhouse gases and dependence on foreign oil.

"Instead of calling it a gas tax, call it a carbon tax," Whittington said.

Bottlenecks around the nation cost the trucking industry about 243 million lost truck hours and about $7.8 billion per year, according to the commission.


__________________________________________________ _______

SURE.. they wanted us to drive less to slow down dependency on oil, so we do and GUESS WHAT... they want to raise taxes now since we are doing that.....

What a bunch of MORONS......

[Brick]

All they have to do is STOP syphoning money off of the gas tax receipts for the "public transportation" projects (you know grants for municipal subways, buses and airports that can't pay for themselves by ridership alone). Then they'd have plenty of money for highway and bridge maintenance and construction, which is where it's supposed to go to start with.

[Minor Threat]

They just want as much of our money as possible. Earlier this summer they were telling us to conserve, now they are telling us that our conserving is not good cuz its not bringing in enough money.

Wait until you see the tax they are going to be charging for ammo in the near future.

[Pector55]

So if there are less people driving, isn't there less damage to roads and bridges so less money needed?

[Brick]

So if there are less people driving, isn't there less damage to roads and bridges so less money needed?

You are of course correct. But, when you consider what they are really trying to do is make up for 30 or 40 or more years of maintenance neglect because the various levels of government used the toll roads and gasoline taxes as cash cows to fund thier pet projects, (e.g. Philadelphia subways) you begin to realize why it has become so expensive.

In addition, when an engineer designs a pavement it isn't designed for automobile loads. It is designed for truck loads! The load effects of passenger cars on a pavement are negligible compared to truck loadings. Asphalt pavement thickness for a road that receives only automobile traffic only needs to be 2 1/2" or 3" thick. Likewise bridges they are designed for the effects of truck loadings one of the standards used is the HS-20.

[Pector55]

Good info. I know the weather must have some effect on the roads and bridges but I always assumed the traffic was more damaging. I have never read anything bout the engineering of the roads.