Gas Tax Hike Looking More Palatable to Republicans

by Fawn Johnson (National Journal) Some lawmakers say there needs to be a rebate for low-income families. Others call it a "user fee." Lawmakers may have finally run out of arcane accounting options to fund the nation's highways and transit systems. Here's a key clue: The talk in the Senate about a gas tax increase is starting to sound serious. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, a fairly solid conservative and new chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, had this to say about the possibility last week: "It's a small price to pay for the best highway system in the world."

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, a moderate, said she is open to a gas tax increase even though virtually every resident in her rural state must rely on cars to get anywhere. Collins said she would support an increase if it included a rebate for low-income families that they could collect when logging their vehicle miles traveled with the DMV. "We certainly have to come up with something," she said.

Funding for the surface transportation system expires in May, and members clearly are becoming weary of cobbling together short-term extensions time and time again. Sens. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and Bob Corker, R-Tenn., came up with a creative proposal last year to hike the gas tax while at the same time cutting other taxes to balance out the revenue. Hatch said last week that idea is still in the mix. READ MORE and MORE (The Atlantic)

Excerpt from The Atlantic: Even in Washington, the need to spend tax dollars on infrastructure has traditionally drawn bipartisan support. Business interests, like the Chamber of Commerce, campaign aggressively in favor of funding for roads and bridges on the grounds that decaying infrastructure is a drag on the economy. Republicans have also argued that raising taxes to boost spending now is fiscally responsible because as roads and bridges deteriorate, it becomes more expensive to repair and replace them. "No one wants to raise taxes less than I do," South Dakota's Republican governor, Dennis Daugaard, said in his State of the State speech earlier this year. "But as I’ve said before, there is a difference between being cheap and being frugal."

Whatever longterm challenges state-level gas taxes face, though, they remain useful for legislatures confronting failing bridges and potholed roads. "It might be dying but it’s not dead," said Kevin Van Tassell, a Republican state senator in Utah, "and it’s probably the cheapest and most effective tax we have to administer and to collect." It's a defense of taxation you're unlikely to hear in Washington, but from a Republican living 2,000 miles away, it's beginning to sound like a party line. READ MORE