but then again the difference between $3.90 gas and $4.10 gas isn't that big to me



I'm already cutting every mile of travel that I can.

I live in a very rural area with virtually no public transportation. It's nice that you can afford it, but that doesn't make it ok for the millions who simply cannot.

I do everything I can to keep my mileage down. Pick up supplies on the way to work, combine multi-trips, etc...

The extra $ this would cost me would be fairly hard to find in my budget, but our roads need a lot of work and anything that helps cut back on miles driven helps the environment.

Although lord knows every poor and working class person in this nation needs help also.

Why is it that Congress can't agree on ANYTHING until it comes to screwing the American people? You expect that kind of thing from Republicans but Democrats blindly go along with it.

Screw this fatalism of "but that will never pass". Tax the damn oil companies that are reaping record profits!

They go on roads which they are not paying for. They need to pay their fair share.

and should be helped. But we need to get to repair our roads and slowing down our energy consumption.

of working people that are already struggling. Food prices have increased by 17% (I read that article just today, I think it was on Business Insider) and now they want to increase gas taxes on the American people.

Tax the damn corporations - the heavy trucks do more wear and tear on the roads than autos do, and they are all flush with profits.

I live in a city with great public transit so I have that luxury and if I ever want to take trips to the coast or whatever I can just rent one. I estimate I am saving about $200 a month on gas and insurance.

Sometimes I need to use my car, but I try to use a bicycle to get around town whenever possible.

Like those nose-picking think tankers who push paper all day in their D.C offices and make up shit like this.

Between politicians earmarking funds for things other than transportation in the highway bill, it is the biggest reason our roads and transportation infrastructure is crumbling.

If you like driving on bad roads, write your representatives about not wanting to pay a higher fuel tax, they will then gladly turn your freeway into a toll road to raise revenue.

Because that is part of the bill, too.

It leaves the option to toll previously free highways up to the states.

And you think the fuel tax would be a bad idea...

What is your point?

Institute the Buffett rule and raise the top marginal tax rate to where it was in the Carter Administration and you'll have all the money you need.

Geez.

Especially since oil companies are reaping record profits. It's high time they paid some bills. Their gasoline and diesel doesn't get to the stations where it is sold by teleportation - they use the damn roads. Tax them!

will find devastating.

raise taxes on the rich. Novel idea, eh?

The article quoted in the OP just says "Murphy and Corker called for raising the taxes by 6 cents a year over the next two years, while offsetting the increased federal revenue with other tax cuts."

Another article on this specified that they were suggesting renewing the expired Bush tax cuts for the wealthy as the offset.

But either way, it just shifts the money from one pocket to the other. What would suffer if more tax revenue went into the highway fund? Education? The environment?

And any attempt to provide an offset plays into the Norquistian starve-the-beast paradigm. At a time when true economic recovery is still a distant hope -- and when state revenues and expenditures continue to drop radically -- the Republicans are determined to prevent any kind of federal spending that might get things going again.

That any Democrat would sign on to this vicious and short-sighted scheme is even more distressing.

and hands it over as a tax cut for corporations, while cutting education, etc.

Meanwhile, there is never even the slightest discussion of how much military action is going to cost or taxing these corporations that are making record profits. NO, it needs to come out of the pocket of the American people - that's a bipartisan idea everyone can seem to get behind - except for the 99% of the nation that aren't DC politicians, Wall Street speculators and lobbyists.

ANYTHING, like good roads and infrastructure and Health Care, Education, etc is our WAR BUDGET. Cut that in half and stop selling OUR OIL overseas, and we can have all these things.

It is laughable to try to claim that gas taxes will do anything other than end up where all tax dollars end up, paying for tax cuts for the wealthy and WAR, ETERNAL WAR.

Let's go way out on the limb and say the person uses 10 gallons a day, we are talking a buck - twenty. How much are those tolls gonna be?

Now bring it to reality where folks aren't using any ten gallons a day and tell me what is going to eat folks up. I'd rather double the gas tax than go with tolls.

12 cents can't be "devastating" because the shit fluctuates by such increments and more all the time. I know every penny can count but let's not get too dramatic here. We're probably talking ten bucks are month on the higher side, I don't think we can address poverty by not fixing the roads and best to do that this way rather than extracting multiples of that for tolls.

on the wealthy in some way- from income tax to raising the tax on luxury vehicles ?

The point I was making should be obvious- that a dem is teaming up with a repub on a regressive tax.

Sorry, this appears to be another example of "we want something but we don't want to pay for it"ism.

Roads and bridges cost money. The gas tax has always been how we fund such projects, and it actually places the cost of maintaining the roads upon those who are using and in the process damaging those roads.

Not sure why rural America is supposed to get subsidized by the rest of us.

Corporate members would be a great start. When you have one and a half parties, very clever of them I must admit, working for Corporations, you can't get anything through Congress that benefits the people. Which was the plan. But we know the problem don't we?

It's way past time to tax oil companies and other large corporations. How do you think they things they sell get to the store? It isn't via teleportation - they use the roads as much if not more than everyone else, and the heavy trucks produce more wear and tear on the roads. Tax the corporations making record profit.

"Bipartisan support" for taking more money from working people instead of the corporations that are flush with cash just means that Dems and Reps are committed to screwing over the American people in complete harmony.

that might take the money from those who can afford it.

It's boring and tedious, they don't even understand the taxing mechanism itself and how it functions, so they think "tax the rich!" will solve it.

No, it won't.

is that tax cuts for the wealthy have cost this country over 2 trillion dollars over one decade.

And our wars for profit cost another couple of trillion.

Then we had the corruption on Wall St which cost a few more trillion.

But what are a few trillion here and there to make sure the top 1% continue to live the life style we have helped them grow accustomed to.

I think they could still live very comfortably by contributing a bit more to the country that has propped them up for so long.

Have you written the members of the transportation committees of both houses? How about the appropriation committee? Do you even know who is on those committees?

You do realize that if the taxes aren't raised on fuel, states will be allowed to resort to even more draconian way of raising money to fund highway projects, i.e. tolling previously free highways?

How would you change the funding mechanism for the highway trust fund?

Would you drop the tax per gallon currently paid, would you go to a vehicle mileage-based system, or a hybrid of the two?

Would you scuttle both funding plans and just take the funding from the general revenue? How would you change or improve the funding for the bond set-asides?

promise them for their reelection campaigns.

I would cut the Pentagon budget in half and we could take care of most of what this country needs.

Any more questions?

Better to complain here on DU than actually do something in the real world.


I write them a lot.

A whole lot.


I ask them to do what is doable instead of throwing my hands in the air.

generated responses. Or as in the case of my Senator, Schumer, nothing at all. Met him once, before he was a Senator, didn't like him then and nothing I've seen has changed my mind.

And what do you ask them to do? Raise taxes on the poor? Or raise taxes on the wealthy? It all depends on what you're asking for and WHO your Rep is whether you get what you want.

Since you support this tax I assume you are getting what you want. The rest of us will keep on 'complaining' and watching who is voting for what so we can decide if they deserve another term.

Sen. Brown had an aide call me about certain points of an amendment to the THUD bill, I've talked to his office before on these issues.

The overwhelming majority of voters on both sides of the aisle are in favor of raising revenue for transportation by raising the fuel tax rates.

Building roads and bridges generates jobs, good-paying jobs.

Complain away.

their inflation calculations for the elderly and disabled?

Don't worry, we will complain. I haven't noticed anyone planning not to do so.

Tell me this, what was the average MPG for a 1993 model car vs. today?

Since the tax is based on gallons used, for most they were actually paying a higher tax rate as a percentage of overall fuel costs then as opposed to the newer proposed rate..

The only way we will ever get this country out of its dependence on fossil fuels and away from its love of gas guzzling cars is to make gas cost a lot more.

And it works- as posters in this thread has said when costs rise you drive less, plan your trips better or even ditch your car.

.12 a year, each year, for the next 20 years is a better plan.

But I drive a car that averages 47mpg instead of a gas guzzling SUV.

I need one!

Amazing little cars!

making a phased in $1 increase. Used for mass transit, infrastructure, and renewables research. And the $1 increase should drive down consumption.

But yes, I agree with your basic premise.

I don't know why so many on DU don't get that there are millions of people in rural areas who can't fucking not drive because there is little or no transportation. I know that most DUers live in the burbs and just don't understand what it's like to live in a rural area.

There are rural residents all over Europe who pay much higher gas taxes and get by- because they drive far more fuel efficient vehicles, plan their driving better and because when they make driving long distance to shop less appealing people shop closer in small towns, so you have more thriving small markets all over rural areas.

bill to help anyone except the 1%.

This is as much of a bullshit suggestion as the toll roads suggestion. Tax the damn oil companies, the companies that put the most wear and tear on our roads, and those who are reaping record profits.

It's not rocket science, the problem is the lack of political will on the part of the politicians. They are too afraid a lobbyist might decide not to give them a donation as a punishment for actually doing right by the American people.

I expect this kind of crap from Republicans - I didn't vote for Democrats to go to Congress and agree with them on bullshit like this.

Global warming.

This is long overdue

Infrastructure costs money.

There is not a better alternative out there in terms of something that will actually pass.

Corporations use the roads just as much if not more than everyone else shipping their goods everywhere.

"Something that will actually pass". If you asked 99% of the population, I would guarantee that they would prefer to have some of these corporations that pay virtually no taxes to pitch in.

Sadly, as usual, when it comes to screwing over the 99%, there is alway bipartisanship. It chaps my ass that we work to get Dems elected and they get to DC and can barely pass anything unless it involves screwing over the American people along with the Republicans. You already know the Republicans are going to screw you over, but damn, I expect better from Democrats!

This "It will never pass" fatalism is exactly what is wrong with our country. There are plenty of things that people thought would "never pass" and did - it's up to the electorate to stop giving Congress a FREE PASS to screw us all over.

just like sales tax is a tax on the company selling stuff

it's a direct tax on their sales of gas

they're the ones who pay the tax to the government.

the alternative is to just let the infrastructure continue to crumble

Stop the damn subsidies to corporations and balancing the tax breaks on the backs of the middle class and the poor (many of whose backs are nearly broken already with food prices soaring).

It's not rocket science. This fatalistic "but that will never pass" bullshit needs to end.

Republicans control the house, which drastically limits what can actually get accomplished.

they're going to gain seats in the fall, which won't make things any better

in the mean time, roads and bridges crumble which doesn't help anyone

You don't know that. There are a few months to go before then. Enough of the negativity.

because they benefit when drivers have better roads. I still believe we should be taxing oil companies first, reducing their subsidies and then talk about taxing the 99%.

Last edited Thu Jun 19, 2014, 02:46 PM - Edit history (1)

who won't be able to afford to drive into work for the week.

They won't so mush as choose to do this but, they will have no other option unless the employer wants to come get them and take them home.

There is no public transportation for most of these areas.

but the damn oil companies? Cut their subsidies and by law dedicate it to the Federal Highway Trust Fund. The huge corporations use the roads more than everyone else to ship their goods everywhere, lets tax some of them, also, before we tax main street?

And as usual, when it comes to screwing the 99%, one thing you will always depend upon is bipartisan support!

Another buck forty-four. Considering the weekly fluctuations in the price of a gallon of gas, I'm willing to bet that after the first month, most folks won't notice the difference. But the amount of money we have to repair our nation's crumbling highways will look a lot different.

it would be $0.30 --- the same twelve cents that is being proposed as an increase over the next two years.

And publicly review every tax credit and break in the tax code for its necessity or usefulness to society to justify keeping it.

Does anyone know how much money is collected from the current Federal Gas and Diesel taxes every year?

way to pay for our infrastructure if you think there is a better way than the fuel tax, which every corporation that has equipment on our highways has to pay.

Future Funding Needs. The future cost to maintain and improve the Nation's surface transportation systems will exceed current funding at all levels of government. Current federal tax receipts will not be sufficient to sustain funding levels authorized in the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users. Between 2007 and 2026, the total annual investment needed to maintain the condition of highways and bridges over a 20-year period is estimated to be approximately $105.6 billion (in 2006 dollars). Motor fuels taxes currently fund 90 percent of the Federal Highway Trust Fund and likely will remain a critical funding source in the near term, but may become less viable as people and businesses shift to using more efficient and alternative fueled vehicles. Any substantial increases in future funding will likely come from a combination of revenue mechanisms and the use of a mileage-based user fee on miles traveled as a replacement or supplement to motor fuels taxes. The future will also bring greater use of tolling to fund new projects in a variety of ways, including the application of variable pricing (i.e., congestion pricing). In addition, some States and local governments will likely make greater use of public-private partnerships to finance and operate needed infrastructure.

Here's the FHWA site.
https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policy/fhplan.htm