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Pain at the pumpBy Seymour Klierly If you're like me, while you stand out in the cold filling up your vehicle you are mesmerized by that price total ratcheting up faster and faster than ever before. It wasn't too long ago when unleaded gasoline was under a buck a gallon. Even that seemed high at the time. If you're like me, you may also question why that stretch of highway between work and home is always littered with pot holes. I sometimes wonder if my mechanic is in cahoots with the roads department. Maybe he pays them off to keep the highways bad so I have to bring my vehicle in for more service. Thankfully you and I aren't the only folks thinking this way. This week the National Surface Transportation Commission issued their report recommending how the federal government should fix our aging highway, railway and transit infrastructure. Before I get to the root of my frustrations, let me give you a little background on this "advisory" panel. In the 2005 highway bill, Congress set up this commission to recommend long term transportation policy. The purpose of the commission was to review current and future infrastructure needs, to make policy recommendations and most importantly suggest how to pay for those recommendations. If you're not familiar with the specifics, there are two main funding streams for highway projects, both of which are paid by you. First, the federal government hits you up for 18.4 cents on every gallon of gasoline that you purchase. Next, your state puts their own tax on top of that; most states taxes are around 20 to 25 cents per gallon. Therefore, on each gallon of gasoline you buy, you're paying roughly 40 cents in taxes. The federal portion of that revenue is collected in each state then redistributed back to the state under a funding formula. The problem with this current system is that by 2009 the money coming in from the fuel taxes will not cover the scheduled expenses under the highway program. In fact, they are about $5 billion short. Congress knew they would be in trouble in 2005 which is why they planned ahead and created this commission to advise them how best to address this funding shortfall. The commission's mission was to think of innovative ways to raise money to keep the highways and bridges safe and at the same time reduce traffic throughout the country. Congress often sets up commissions like this to provide fresh ideas and help address difficult challenges. The commission spent 22 months holding hearings and collecting information from all interested parties. So after all of their studying and meeting what fresh idea did the commission come up with? Raise your gas taxes... Are you kidding me? This commission made up of "experts" recommended that Congress increase federal taxes by 5 to 8 cents per gallon per year for five years. That's 40 cents per gallon more than what you currently pay in federal taxes alone--a total of about 80 to 85 cents per gallon when state taxes are added. When has Congress ever needed someone to tell them to raise taxes? They do that on their own all the time. More importantly, who on this panel thinks raising the gas tax will help the economy? Do these folks even pay for their own gas? Let's take a look at who served on this commission and concocted such an idea. There were five CEO's of major corporations, one university professor, the federal secretary and former deputy secretary of transportation, a state secretary of transportation, and a couple of trade association representatives. I imagine each of them enjoy a pretty healthy pay check and maybe could afford a tax increase. But certainly your average pay check to pay check living, blue collar American can't afford such an increase. To be fair, three of the commissioners disagreed with the recommendation to raise the tax. Secretary Mary Peters, former Deputy Secretary Maria Cino, and Professor Rick Geddes apparently have enough common sense to say no to increasing taxes with gasoline above $3 a gallon. The major rub for this penny pincher is that the federal government (and apparently nine of the 12 commissioners on this panel) doesn't seem to share my penchant for frugality. Instead of continuing the "tax and spend" philosophy of the past, maybe Congress should cut some spending. Thankfully several of our esteemed elected officials aren't taking the bait from this commission. Many were quick to oppose a fuel tax increase and I can't imagine such a proposal would pass in an election year. You tell me which party wants their campaign slogan to be, "Vote for me. I'll make paying at the pump even more painful." Not even the best campaign strategist could spin that platform into a winner. 1/21/08 Date: 1/16/08
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