White House Rebukes DOT Secretary, Says No to Mileage Tax for Road Repair
By John O'Dell February 23, 2009
Score one for our side!
We brought you news Friday that President Obama's transportation secretary, Ray LaHood, said in an interview that he was considering the merits of a vehicle mileage tax to augment or replace the federal gas tax as a means of financing highway repair.
Nation's potholed highways need help, but a mileage tax to raise fix-it funding isn't in White House plans.
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Turns out that the President doesn't like it either and, through his chief spokesman, has chastised LaHood for crossing lanes on this one.
The Washington Post reported this weekend that during a press briefing, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs unequivocally shot down the idea.
Taxing motorists for each and every mile driven "is not and will not be the policy of the Obama administration," he said in response to a question about LaHood's statement.
Now all the administration has to do is come up with some other means of replenishing the federal highway fund, which has been virtually bankrupted by soaring highway and bridge repair costs and declining revenues.
The fund's revenue comes from the federal gas tax -- presently 18.4 cents a gallon.
But that revenue has been plummeting as people try to cope with the economic melt down and overall higher prices of gasoline by reducing their driving and abandoning gas-guzzling pickups and SUVs in favor of more fuel-efficient vehicles.
We think that a higher federal gas tax (with a mechanism for getting some of the money back to the poorest car owners among us) is part of the solution.
It would help curb excessive driving and also would encourage sales of lighter, more fuel-efficient vehicles. While both results mean less gas would be sold, they also mean less wear and tear on the highways, which would reduce the demands on the highway fund.
A weight-based federal fee levied on the sale of new vehicles also would help finance the highway fund and would place the biggest burden on the heaviest vehicles which, after all, are the ones that do most damage to the roads.
John O'Dell, Senior Editor
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If the Feds and the states were to raise gas taxes by, say, $0.20 per gallon, that would net over half a billion dollars for road repairs.
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