Sanders won't back infrastructure deal with more gas taxes, electric vehicle fees

[brooklynite]

Source: Politico

Sen. Bernie Sanders on Sunday said he wouldn't support the bipartisan infrastructure bill if it included measures such as raising the gas tax or a fee on electric vehicles.

The statement demonstrates that Democrats are at risk of losing progressives' support in a 50-50 Senate even as they court Republicans to produce a bipartisan bill.

"If it is roads and bridges, yeah, of course we need to do that and I support that," Sanders (I-Vt.) said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "If it is regressive taxation — you know, raising the gas tax or a fee on electric vehicles, or the privatization of infrastructure, no I wouldn’t support it, but we don’t have the details right now."

Twenty-one senators, including 11 Republicans, have detailed a bipartisan proposal that costs about $973 billion over five years or $1.2 trillion over eight. The plan would have $579 billion in new spending and would repurpose unspent Covid relief funds, impose a surcharge on electric vehicles, and expand the use of state and local funds for coronavirus relief.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2021/06/20/sanders-infrastructure-gas-taxes-electric-vehicle-fees-495284

[Deminpenn]

1. Think it's inevitable that there will be some sort

alternative-to-the-gas-tax fee on electric vehicles in the near term.

[Shermann]

5. There are challenges with that one

They can hit the charging stations, but most of the charging will happen at home.

Then there's that whole Pandora's box in tracking mileage.

[Deminpenn]

6. I think there could just be a flat fee associated with

annual or two-year vehicle registration that the states could collect for the federal government. I'm sure it's possible to figure out an average miles driven for electric vehicles, then to derive a reasonable average fee from that.

[Polybius]

31. It's bullshit

Just tax the rich. Except for insurance, driving should be free.

[FarPoint]

15. I have hybrid vehicle...

Ford C-Max...in Ohio...I pay an extra $110 dollars when I renew my car tags each year for the highway tax...because I get better gas mileage Ohio charges me more!

[doc03]

21. What about the person that has a gas operated vehicle that gets as much mileage

as a hybrid? I was going to buy a hybrid until they came up with that tax. I have to pay a premium to get a hybrid and pay a
special tax why buy a hybrid?

[FarPoint]

22. I don't know...

This Ohio extra tax came in the year after I got my hybrid...2019...

[doc03]

27. Maybe I am wrong but the tax on hybrids and EVs

is a gift to the petrol industry.

[tirebiter]

2. The gas tax made it a non starter. Biden said he wouldn't sign on to that.

[onetexan]

17. Agree

[CentralMass]

3. Good.

[calguy]

4. The more they keep messing around.....

the more time gets wasted and the closer they'll be to no bill at all.
If the dems can't unite to face a united republican opposition, they're as good as done.

[Lonestarblue]

12. I keep thinking about the ACA.

Republicans made amendment after amendment for months on end, solely to delay. In the end, not one Republican voted for it. Not one. And, most likely, not one will vote for an infrastructure bill either. They just want to delay it for months on end so they can claim the Biden administration and Democrats can’t get anything done. I simply do not trust Republicans to vote, even for a bill they help negotiate. All it takes is Mitch asking for a personal favor.

[paleotn]

7. Gas tax? Absolutely not. Electric car tax of some sort? Negotiable.

Gas taxes pay for highway system expansion and maintenance. Electric cars use the same highways, yet contribute less to their upkeep.

[Hiawatha Pete]

14. Gas powered cars require fuel infrastructure...

...Like big tanker trucks that pound the roads to bits with one truck causing as much road damage as 9,600 cars:

Page 23 "Excessive Truck Weight: An Expensive Burden We Can No Longer Afford"
http://archive.gao.gov/f0302/109884.pdf

Electric cars don't require fuel trucks and, like any car gas or electric, cause far less road damage than trucks.

So electric cars on the whole are responsible for far less highway damage than fossil fuel powered cars.

[paleotn]

23. Yes, and that's why it's negotiable....

Not the same as gas driven vehicles, but some amount in relation to their wear and tear on highways.

[Griefbird]

32. Everyone benefits from transportation infrastructure.

Upkeep and improvement of roads should be paid by everyone. I suggest an increase in capital gains tax. There should be a reward, not a penalty, for reducing carbon emissions. Also, I think it's about time the progressives take a page from conservative Democrats' book (read Joe Manchin), and draw their own line in the sand; this with the understanding that lines in sand aren't all that permanent, what with wind and waves and such.

[Warpy]

8. Good for him

Plutocrats and their corporations will reap 90% of the benefit. The bill needs to go to them.

Regressive taxes putting the bills on the backs of working people will not work. We're tapped out, wages are too low, expenses are too high, and inflation is back with a vengeance.

Taxes need to rise at the top. Wages need to rise at the bottom, wages leading to increased disposable income, not an ability to pay higher taxes at the gas pump.

Reaganomics had a 40 year run and didn't work for anybody but the plutocrats. It's time to bury that old bastard's bullshit along with him and move on to an economy that did work for most of us, featuring wages at the bottom that paid the bills, for a start, and taxes at the top that actually funded the government.

[questionseverything]

9. The 1 percent need to pay because they have all the money

[Warpy]

11. Thank you, Willie Sutton

[tecelote]

26. Brilliant - One simple sentence that says it all.

[questionseverything]

35. Ty i have a knack for the obvious

😉

[George II]

10. "If it's roads and bridges, yeah..." Isn't that what republicans have been saying, THEY won't...

....back an infrastructure bill that includes more than just "roads and bridges"?

On the other hand are gasoline or electric car taxes even included in the bill or is this just something to talk about?

[twin_ghost]

13. The people that use the roads should pay for them.

There is nothing wrong with raising gas taxes or adding a fee for EV's.

[OldBaldy1701E]

18. You reminded me of something I used to marvel at

When we lived in Nashville, TN. A number of people work in downtown Nashville, yet they live outside the county in Williamson Co.. (Nashville is in Davidson Co., BTW.) The roads around Nashville are not the greatest, yet these pricks figured out the game and won't live where their cars do most of the damage, so therefore they don't pay for it. Nothing has ever been done about it. Typical behavior for your average capitalist.

[IronLionZion]

16. Who wanted the gas tax?

Sounds like something Republicans would put in just so they can blame Dems for it.

[Autumn]

19. I applaud Bernie and Biden on the stands they are taking on this bill.

[doc03]

20. Gas tax is a tax on the working class. It would also play into the Republican

talking point Biden raised gas prices.

[Wuddles440]

24. Absolutely 100% Correct!

The GQP always hate raising taxes on themselves or their wealthy patrons/business benefactors, but just love raising revenue with regressive taxes, such as the gas tax, because it has very little impact on them while disproportionately penalizing wage earners and economically disadvantaged consumers. Go Bernie!

[NickB79]

25. The ONLY thing that ever dented America's appetite for trucks and SUV's was high gas prices

When gas prices hit $4/gal under Bush, hybrids and compacts were flying off lots. As soon as the cost went down below $3/gal, truck sales spiked again. Before that it was the gas crises of the 70's that temporarily killed sales of big cars, until gas got cheap again.

Yes, gas taxes are regressive as hell. But so are the effects of climate change. Pick your poison.

[MichMan]

28. Either we believe climate change is serious or we dont.

We want cheap gas, but expect consumers to not use much of it, yet wonder why the top selling vehicles are always full size pickups and SUV.

[Orrex]

29. If Dems don't pass an infrastructure bill & voting reform...

then they'll be begging to be voted out of the majority in both houses in 2022.

None of the complaints about Manchin and Sinema will mean a damn thing to voters.

[George II]

33. I'm sure Manchin and Sinema will support any bi-partisan compromise infrastructure bill.

[Orrex]

34. I find it difficult to respond within the TOS

You know, the part about "not bashing Democrats."

I fear the concessions that Democrats will have to make in order to secure any such "compromise" bill.

[azureblue]

30. tell the rest of the story

Like Why Sanders opposes ----
"The statement demonstrates that Democrats are at risk of losing progressives' support "
No - this is a lie - this statements demonstrates that Sanders refuses to have the tax burden, once again, shifted onto those who cannot afford it. Sanders is, as he always has been, against regressive taxes. Sanders wants to raise taxes on the super rich, but of course, that part was left out. This is a GOP half lie smear piece against Bernie.
But of course, being a GOP smear piece, they couldn't tell the truth, could they?

[myohmy2]

36. that's my Bernie...

...no bill is better than a crap bill...

...