George Jefferson Airplane
Footballguy
Link
Nationally averaged gas prices ticked down a little lower today -- yet again -- to $2.75 per gallon. They're now more than 50 cents lower than they were a year ago. So no wonder, at a time like this, the murmur is growing: Maybe Congress ought to think about raising the national gasoline tax.
It was last raised, in the year 1993, to 18.4 cents per gallon. That's over 20 years ago, and gas prices at the time were close to the now unimaginable $1.00 per gallon mark. Yet the amount of the gas tax was fixed and not tied to inflation -- so it has not changed since. (U.S. states also charge gasoline taxes; the national average is about 23.5 cents.)
"It’s been a generation since gas taxes were increased at all," says Paul Bledsoe, a senior fellow on energy at the German Marshall Fund. "So they are incredibly low by historic levels."
Meanwhile, the Highway Trust Fund, which depends on these federal gas tax revenues, has seen its revenues fail to match its level of spending for 13 years straight. Not only has the gas tax been fixed for two decades, but vehicles also have become a lot more fuel efficient. That has led to less gasoline use and less gas tax paid per mile driven -- even as alternative fuel vehicles like hybrids have also hit the road.
"You’re ending up with serious reductions in highway fund revenues, and that’s sort of the fundamental reason why we’re having all these infrastructure problems," says Alan Krupnick, co-director of the Center for Energy and Climate Economics at Resources for the Future.
Timing a gas tax increase for a time like right now -- when gas prices have been plunging, and may have further to fall -- would surely be the easiest on consumers. It "would be kind of in the noise," says Krupnick. But it could help address at least three different problems: inadequate highway funding, American's energy habits, and even, perhaps, bipartisan tax reform.
Last edited by a moderator: