Obama has a good transportation plan. Now we just need to raise the gas tax to pay for it.

[ProSense]

Obama has a good transportation plan. Now we just need to raise the gas tax to pay for it.

By Ben Adler

The problems all started with Newt Gingrich. For decades, federal transportation funding had been a bastion of bipartisanship: The gasoline tax served as a user fee for our roads, 20 percent of the revenue went to mass transit and the rest to highways, and everyone kept the system running so their districts could get what they needed. Then, in 1994, Gingrich led the right-wing Republican insurgency that took over the House of Representatives. They did not want to raise the gas tax, even to keep pace with inflation. They actually tried to repeal the previous gas-tax increase, from 1993. Hatred of the gas tax, like hatred of all taxes, soon calcified into Republican orthodoxy. Rather than increase the gas tax, President George W. Bush presided over a growing gap between our transportation needs and the revenue the tax generated.

And the problem has not been fixed under Obama. With Republicans currently controlling the House, Congress cannot pass a reauthorization of the surface transportation law that would address our nation’s growing transportation investment needs. Instead, they have retained the status quo through a series of short-term extensions and then, in 2012, a two-year authorization (normally the law is extended for six years) that maintained current funding levels by using general revenues to patch a shortfall in the Highway Trust Fund, which is supposed to be fully supported by the gas tax. That authorization expires this year, so some kind of transportation deal will have to be worked out...On Wednesday, Obama went ahead and laid out a progressive vision for a four-year transportation bill, despite the fact that Republicans will never go for it. It would boost transportation spending to a total of $302 billion over four years and reorient that spending in smart ways.

Historically, transportation funding has been doled out by the Department of Transportation to states according to formulas. But under the 2009 Recovery Act, the Obama administration pioneered the use of competitive grant-making with a program called TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery). Like Obama’s famous Race to the Top education initiative, which incentivizes states to make education policy reforms, TIGER incentivizes local governments to make more efficient investments in transportation, such as building a transit hub near an affordable housing development.

Obama’s new transportation bill would invest $600 million over four years in the TIGER program, and more broadly prioritize spending on projects with the most potential to improve environmental efficiency, create jobs, or link transportation to housing. Similarly, road spending would be doled out on a “fix-it-first” basis, focusing on repairing existing roads rather than building new ones. Obama would also spend a combined $91 billion over the four years on mass transit and inter-city passenger rail. That’s a roughly 30 percent share. Environmentalists and smart-growth advocates are praising the proposal.

- more -

http://grist.org/politics/obama-has-a-good-transportation-plan-now-we-just-need-to-raise-the-gas-tax-so-he-can-pay-for-it/

Obama reversed Tom Delay's ban on Houston Light Rail
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024576965

[ProdigalJunkMail]

1. raising the gas tax only really affects the middle and lower

parts of the economic spectrum... harsh idea.

sP

[ProSense]

3. It shouldn't be raised, but

the author believes that Obama's proposal for closing loopholes means the proposal is dead on arrival.

Not sure why he thinks a gas tax isn't.

[upaloopa]

6. Here is a thought I have. I ride a "clean air express"

bus to work. It costs $150 per month. I ride 50 miles each way. We live in a town with affordable housing but work in a city that has a median house price that most of us in our town can't afford. There are no jobs in our town besides Walmart and the like. So thousands of us commute every day. When gas prices go up the ridership on the bus also goes up. When that happens there is less traffic which translates into cleaner air and less need for road maintenance.
So when gas prices go up around here it has some positive effects on middle and lower classes. People who do not commute do not spend a lot on gas and when the price per gallon goes up it isn't a big hit since they don't fill their tank too often.
Also my employer gives us two extra paid holidays a year if we use public transportation or walk or bike 80% of the time we commute.

[Autumn]

9. And when one lives 40 miles from a city, there is no bus.

[upaloopa]

11. That happens

What we did was put a ballot measure on the county ballot called measure A to fund public transportation.
The problem with a defeatist attitude is that you never try.
Of course I live in a progressive area.
If you live in a red area it won't work.

[Autumn]

12. ROTFLMAO

[upaloopa]

14. Me too

[Autumn]

2. Yes, hurt the poor and middle class in the pocket.

[ProSense]

5. How do you think it should be paid for? n/t

[MO_Moderate]

4. Um, NO

Now is not the time to raise taxes.

[geek tragedy]

8. when is the time to raise taxes? nt

[MO_Moderate]

13. When other prices aren't rising

When other taxes aren't already being implemented

When the economy doesn't suck so bad

[ProSense]

15. How do you think this should be paid for?

I agree that a gas tax increase isn't the way.

[MO_Moderate]

19. I have no idea

I would only fix what HAS to be fixed right now, and I am sure they have plenty of tricks they can use if they are serious.

[geek tragedy]

16. in other words, never.

"when other prices aren't rising"--they inevitably rise when the economy is growing

[SamKnause]

7. Suggestion

Maybe all of the poor people (I am a member of that group) should just commit suicide.

The rich have robbed this country blind.

They prevented the car companies from increasing the gas mileage of automobiles for decades.

Our cars should be getting 60 or 75 miles to the gallon.

They did everything they could to stop electric car production.

They have caused every economical problem this country faces.

Every time a solution was found the owners of this country squashed it.

Now "our government" (who aids, abets, and enables the corporations) want the poor and the working poor to pay the tab.

I say fuck them all.

What are people who live in rural areas going to do ???

Not everyone in this country lives in a big city.

Not everyone in this country has access to buses, subways, trains, or any form of mass transit.

[ProSense]

10. Yes,

They prevented the car companies from increasing the gas mileage of automobiles for decades.

Our cars should be getting 60 or 75 miles to the gallon.

They did everything they could to stop electric car production.

They have caused every economical problem this country faces.

...this country is still very dependent on fossil fuels, but the shift is underway, thanks to this President.

What are people who live in rural areas going to do ???

Not everyone in this country lives in a big city.

Not everyone in this country has access to buses, subways, trains, or any form of mass transit.

Increasing the gas tax is not a good idea, but expanding access to mass transit in cities and suburban areas will help the transition by keeping millions of cars off the road.

[Demo_Chris]

17. No on a tax hike. That would finish us off. nt

[Scuba]

18. Why push the tax on those least able to afford it? How about a financial transaction tax instead?