Tax the wealthy and big companies for road repairs? Democrats are divided

[TexasTowelie]

WASHINGTON -- Should big corporations or the wealthy pay more taxes to repair the nation’s roads, bridges and other infrastructure? Or should consumers pay for the roads they use with a higher gasoline tax?

Democrats, who control the House of Representatives and have the power to block most legislation in the Senate, have very different ideas which could complicate efforts to reach an agreement with the White House on funding an ambitious infrastructure improvement plan.

Congressional leaders and President Donald Trump are expected to meet Wednesday to discuss ways to pay for a $2 trillion infrastructure plan.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer as well as dozens of House Democrats are advocating having the wealthy pay more. Ninety House Democrats are backing a proposal that would “ensure that the wealthiest Americans and profitable corporations ... pay their fair share for key investments moving forward.”

Read more: https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/congress/article230446674.html

[Hotler]

1. There is a lot to that.. city councils and.....

state governments have be giving tax breaks and furnishing free infrastructure so corporations, businesses (think Walmart, Amazon, etc.) and home builders move to their towns or states. They call it economic development. But it really is a tax payer give away. If the rich had to earn their money without sucking at the teat of the tax payer there would be a lot less of them.

[Volaris]

3. It also creates a kind of 'race to the BOTTOM', in terms of where businesses are located.

Already-well-developed suburban areas that maintain a good mix of commercial, industrial, and residential tax bases, can afford to offer huge local tax incentives to large business to locate there, but very urban and rural areas get fucked out of a potential tax revenue, because of already existing LACK of tax revenue diversity.

There's gotta be a way to set a national business tax rate, and if you're not paying it locally, you're GONNA PAY IT TO THE FEDS.

and if you are paying it locally (but I mean ALL OF IT,) then yeah, don't pay the feds nothin...cause at least you're paying it to someone, and that's better than what we've got now...

[YOHABLO]

2. It's their trucks that are damaging our roads.

[ProudLib72]

4. That's exactly the way I see it too

But you'll get people telling you that, if you increase the corporations' taxes, the consumer will just end up eating the cost. I think it's specious reasoning when CEOs are making hundreds of millions a year.

[pecosbob]

5. Base vehicle registration fees on weight and total mileage.

When I was young in Texas the state levied registration fees on vehicles based on their gross weight. This made sense...the entities that used it the most were charged the most to maintain it. At some point they changed this and now base the fees on value, which diverted most of the bill to the average citizen driver and away from the big freight concerns. Of course that was in the days when you could get politicians to talk about road improvement. Since Reagan politicians develop a hearing impediment anytime infrastucture is mentioned.

The cost for road improvement should be borne by the people and entities that use them the most. Specifically I'm talking about Amazon. It should be part of the hidden cost of ordering a product for delivery.

Tax the corporations that use the infrastructure, not a blanket tax to all.