The 50 cent a gallon gas tax is such a good idea that we should make it $1.50. It took $4 a gallon gas to get America to conserve and we’ll be right back there if we don’t do something and seek alternatives.
I mostly agree with Ray’s philosophy (but not entirely).
Under full disclosure, I will admit that I work for Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT). I am just a worker-bee there; therefore, I do NOT speak for anyone else but me.
We (in Virginia) pay roughly $0.175 per gallon state tax and $0.186 federal tax for gasoline. That is a total of $0.36 per gallon (roughly). Other states pay different amounts for the state level, but overall the federal amount stays the same (so the total tax is different). We are 8th from the bottom of all 50 states – that means that 42 states pay more state tax than we do. This does not address the cost of car taxes (when a car is originally purchased) nor insurance “taxes” nor licensing fees. I am only comparing state gasoline taxes.
My philosophy is that we should raise the state gasoline tax $0.225 more. That would be a total of $0.40 state tax and still keep the $0.186 federal tax the same.
Under my philosophy, the STIPULATIONS on the tax would be that ALL OF THE TAX MONEY WOULD BE USED FOR ROAD CONSTRUCTION AND / OR MAINTENANCE ONLY. That would make it a user tax. I do NOT believe that car drivers should be required to subsidise people who ride buses, trains, horses, fly jet packs or anything else. If people want buses, trains, etc.; then the fairs should be raised to pay for that particular cost of those other modes of transportation out of the “fair box.” Also, I beileve that Amtrack should be allowed to fail, or succeed on its own. So. the costs of a train ticket should rise to cover the cost of that mode of transportation.
Also, I believe that it is more cost effective to use a gas tax as opposed to tolling roads. I believe that if roads are tolled, some of the revenue is used to support toll booths, toll takers, security and audit personnel to insure that the money is accounted for.
Finally, (I read somewhere, but I have not looked for the article) I believe that it is more cost effective to fix a road (pothole) than it is to hit the pothole and fix your car. The article stated that for every dollar spent on road repair, it saved four dollars on car repair.
So, yes we need to raise gasoline taxes, but restrict the money to be used only for roads.
Ray, I support you 105.7% (KGOU statistics). You are right on track figuratively and literally. If you haven’t gained support of a house or senate member on this proposal, you need to get it yesterday. Same points as Roger1 made previously and the points you made in the original proposal. You have my vote.
Walter
Two things- I thought the fuel taxes we are already paying when we buy a gallon of gas or diesel fuel we suppose to fund the infrastructure thing. Maybe we should be taking care of the roads we already have and not building new roads with those tax dollars. Secondly and added tax would hurt worse those of us who live in rural America and commute long distances to work. Where I live in rural Maine it is fifteen miles to the nearest grocery store. We plan our trips carefully and all that, but it is still a long way to go. I work as an EMT and it is already difficult enough to keep fuel in the ambulances what with the lousy Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements. Beware of unintended consequences.
I’m still laughing about some of the ?great? ideas I’ve read here.
Yeah, capitalism is what has made our nation great. (Wink, wink, nod, nod.) Are you kidding? Try telling that to the First Peoples and the poor. Try justifying the rape of the natural resources and the pollution of the planet we’ve caused as ?capitalists?. We are so stupid that, after two hundred years, we still use coal for creating the energy we need. What a bunch of losers we are!
The government hasn’t done anything well with the taxes they’ve been given, and I sure as hell don’t want to give them more just yet. And, of course, legislation can’t fix it. That’s how we got in the mess we’re in now! Duh!
Oh, and here’s a goody. Increased taxes make the US more environmentally sensitive and energy independent. What???
As for you, Ray, come on now. The next time you come up with an idea to support mass transportation, I want you to gather up your computer, your brochures, your briefcase and your samples and pretend that you are a salesperson going to do a presentation across town. Now consider that you take the bus. Its raining, and while you juggle your belongings and your umbrella, you have to contend with the drunks, the dirty, the smelly, the loud, the dangerous, the ill and those that trash the vehicle and all the smokers who inhabit the bus stops. How pleasant. So when you get as close to the location of your meeting as possible, you now have to carry everything the last half mile or more to where you really want to go, all the while watching your pant legs and shoes get splashed every time a car goes by.
So the bus wasn’t on schedule, your clothes look like crap, you’re tired and pissed-off (unless you’re a masochist), and you know you’re not going to make a good presentation. Then the receptionist smiles and hands you the boss’s note that says they were impressed enough with your initial idea to want you to do the presentation at a bigger venue across town for more of the brass. They’ll be giving you an extra half-hour to go to the new location. So, back to the bus stop. Are we having fun yet?
I know its the holidays, but you’ve got to lay off the ol’ eggnog when you’re thinking about important things. We can’t even keep the trains working, and we have to subsidize them! So after buses and trains, you want more mass transit???
Look, the real problem is that whatever you use to raise funds, you must first have a plan. Mass transit will never be it. Luckily, some of us have a sound plan.
Francis Reynolds, PE and various others have come up with a better idea, pretty much simultaneously. He has patented the concept and placed it in the public domain for all of us. It is a Dual-Mode system called HiLoMag?, and you need to check it out.
We take our obvious change to electric vehicles, and make those run on the maglev rail between towns, while we use them conventionally in-town. Since all the components are already proven technology, it becomes a real no-brainer. (Besides, after your great special on hybids and plug-ins, I figured you saw the light. Great program, by the way.)
We start by getting the auto manufacturers to start making hybrid and plug-in electrics with a slight change in the undercarriage. We also immediately adopt T. Boone Pickens’ Plan to switch over all our existing vehicles to NG. (I hope you’ve all signed up as part of the army.) We also ask the President to put tens of thousands to work, like they did during the great depression, to create an elevated rail system over the existing Interstate Highway System.
If we keep hanging on to the old way of doing things, we will never progress to the future. Warn out ideas don’t need fixing, they need replacement. It is time to move on.
What type of government uses taxes to control the behaviors of it’s citizens? Yeah, right, and I don’t want to live there. Start taxing people to make them carpool, drive less - take away freedom and eventually the people who wake up and complain will be taxed so they will have to work more to provide themselves the same standard of living. “Keep the masses busy so they won’t have so much time to think.” Take this idea where it belongs: to a communist nation.
As a proud Prius owner, I’ve been saying the same thing as Ray. We Americans tend not to react to a problem unless it effects us personally. I think Tom and Ray should be drafted to be our new Car Tzars!
Well an extra 10 cents per gallon would be worthwhile if it were spent on improving the roads in San Jose CA which it seems has the worst roads in the US. So, anywhere other than California for sure let’s have a 10 cent surcharge. Such a surcharge would provide some deterrent to the SUV users. But it is not like we have a shortage of oil either in Iran, or even in the US, Canada and Mexico. And with regard to pollution, todays cars produce far less pollution than cars 10 years old.
We are not going to run out of oil soon. but yes we need to look to alternative solutions, but surely no need to run around like chickens with our heads cut off.
Ummm… 50 cents is NOT “a lot to people that can’t afford it”… Sorry, I once worked for the welfare department, and most folks spend HUNDREDS of dollars on beer and pot! So, and extra fifty cents would NOT be noticed by poor folks, or even by blue collar folks! However, instead of fifty cents, the tax should be $1.50… Why? Because, fat, lazy Americans are ALREADY buying big trucks again! Why? Because gas is “cheap”!!! Sorry, folks, but gas will go UP UP UP, and if we don’t prepare NOW, we shall be royally screwed by the Saudis and Iranians! So, yes, a tax, but ONLY for rail systems and alternative energy!
I did not read everyone elses thoughts so this may have come up already. I think a cent per gallon tax is dumb. It should be a percent of price of gallon tax and less than 50 ceartainly. (I am a Libertarian) Absolutly those who use the roads should pay for their upkeep, replacement and so on. If I were recieving the gas tax when the prices were peaking and only gettin paid a flat amount per gallon I would have been cryin! Cause everyone was buying less. If I had been getting a nickel for every buck-o-five of fuel that folk bought I’da been happier. Cause even as prices raised I woulda gotton more cash to (hopefully, being a responsible govt.) invest in long term energy solutions. I would get much less when prices drop drastically but just a tiny bit more than otherwise as people would buy more in volume when the price was lower. I swear I sometimes think that the usual economic rules apply less to fuel prices (or the lag if horribly unpredictable if you take my meaning), however, I think economic ideas would apply to this aspect that I am describing. Why is’nt it that way now? (Or is it and I am missing something huge and obvious? But why do I hear govt. crying “We aint got no money for roads!” if they wern’t participating in Big Oil’s Big Profits?) Why again isn’t it that way now? Probably Oil lobbiests lobbied congeress. (My first guess… Your guess?) Have I missed something?
chslop is using old numbers for the coefficient- in fact, new nonlinear multidimensional analysis shows that the coefficient is defined in imaginary numbers. That being said, Ray, while I sympathize with the need for more and better public transport (imagine a high speed rail between Tucson and Phoenix, AZ- my neck of the woods- it would be hugely popular!), the Congress cannot be trusted with even more $$$- howsabaout they eliminate waste and earmarks first and apply those savings to public transport??
I believe that if intercity trains are built in this country, somebody will decide they should have all the security features of our air transport system, which have succeeded in recreating the discomfort of 19th-century stagecoach travel and the elegance and personal service of a World War I delousing operation. Air travel once offered speed, elegance, comfort, pretty good food even in coach class, and decent cocktail service. Now it offers only speed, and not much of that. I live in Las Vegas, 280 miles from LA. I flew down for a conference, other members of my staff preferred to drive. They dropped me off at the airport as they left town, just barely meeting the deadline by which I was supposed to be at the airport to assure being able to get through the checkpoints and onto the plane, even with carry-on luggage only. They got back to Las Vegas only about 45 minutes after I did, stopping to pee whenever they wanted instead of when a surly flight attendant told them the captain had turned off the don’t-do-anything light. They paid no parking fees at airports or taxi fees to get there. If inter-city transport is not going to make sense on a 280-mile trip, I fear it won’t make sense much of anywhree.
YES! Having lived through the $4/gal shock, the addition of $.50/gal right now would be less of a strain than at any other time. I know it would be difficult for everyone to pay, but we’re going to get there anyway, the question is just when. If we do it right now we can put people to work and keep any more bridges from falling down. The act needs to include explicit limits on the use of the funds so that ONLY transportation projects are eligible.
I am totally behind you and your or rather our idea (I’ve been ranting about it for a month now.)
As a Civil Engineer I believe that Ray is absolutely correct. Our nation has been under-investing in infrastructure for decades and we have to catch up. I would change Ray’s proposal to start with a 10-cent per gallon increase, then increase it one cent each month for about 48 months. This would give people time to make adjustments to their choice of car or lifestyle, knowing what was going to happen to their cost for fuel.
The cost of highways has increased both due to inflation and due to the environmental costs. While it is right to mitigate the impacts of projects, this adds to their cost. Our original tax structure didn’t include funds for mitigation; now we have to accept this responsibility and not try to get a free ride.
Love the show, thanks for having the courage to publicize this issue.
Mike McGinley P.E.
YES! I have lived in Europe now for 12 years with their high gas prices - currently in Denmark where I am now, the price is approx $6.50 per gallon. People still tank up every week, commute 20 miles each way to work every day, and so on. The world has not come to and end. It drives me nuts when folks back home whine and cry even over $4per gallon. GROW UP! I say. You want a nice country where everything works??!!, you have to pay for it!!
I agree with Ray, but I don’t think his idea goes far enough. Start with $.50 and add another $.50 a year for six years. With a predictable, escalating tax, people would make the right long-term decision and start buying, and demanding, highly efficient cars – new cars. An increase of $.50 isn’t enough. We need energy independence, we need strong native industries. This tax could be used to relieve other taxes if necessary, but it would push our country in the direction we so desperately need.
Great idea…Americans are too lazy to do anything to help the environment and get us off oil, unless it hits their wallet.
But what about the millions of taxes we pay now on gas, car registrations /fees, car sales, etc ?
Where is that money going ?
And why aren’t the oil companies being taxed MORE ? They made billions in 2008. Oh, i forgot, they pay millions to congress so THEY DONT GET TAXED…
Oh, my gosh. I can’t believe you actually said that. But this is America and people are entitled to their opinion. Do you realize that you are basically saying that only poor people should live in the city and that only poor people should take public transportation? If that’s not what you meant to say, that’s what it was saying to me.
I actually thought that the reason Ray was talking about a gas tax was so that the government could come up with a way to pay for affordable, clean public transit that everyone could use that could even extend outside of the city.
You make it sound like only those with money should be able to afford to live outside of the city limits. And what’s one of the reasons people like to live outside of the city limits? For fresher air. Outside of the city limits, there are less fumes from all of that traffic caused by all of the emissions.
However, I also admit that I am a hypocrit. I admit that it would be nice to have lower emissions on cars, but I don’t like paying for it. Wisconsin has an emissions check and you can’t reregister your car unless your cars passes the emission test. I paid over $995 to have my car engine repaired so that it would pass emissions. It passed. I got my car reregistered. A month later my engine light kicked on again. Argh! Am I doomed to get another loan to get the light off again?!
I got a chance to ride the monorail at Disneyland in California. I thought it would be noisy and clack like a train. It was wonderful! It was quiet and clean and fast. Why can’t we get more of those throughout America? And what do those things run on?
Someoone needs to get his lug nuts tightened! We need a regrressive tax? You think that it is no problem to drive up the costs of all goods and services while making it more expensive to go to work? At 20 gallons a week, it’s an extra $520 a year from the budget. See how that works out for someone making $10 an hour! I’m sure that in the middle of the overpopulated New England states everyone has easy access to cheap public transportation as an alternative to driving to work, but what about places like Wyoming? And how can the average guy buy a more fuel efficient, eco friendly (and grossly overpriced) vehicle when he’s already financially strapped? The current economic situation grew exponentailly worse with the increase in fuel costs, and most of those increased prices (for goods) have not come down with the decrease in gas prices. So now the guy (Joe the marginally employed plumber) NEEDS to dump his gas-guzzling 11 year old pick-up (which no one wants and he can’t get rid of) and buy a Toyota Prius, which he cannnot get a loan for. How will your tax help him? Here’s an idea: a new government bailout program to help all Americans by trading our old gas-guzzlers for a coupon worth the value of a new “green” vehicle, or a life-time pass on their local public transportation! And lets add another government buy-back program for all the RV’s and other fuel hogs! While it sounds great that the “Big 3” would take on building the public transportation infrastructure, we can’t afford the union labor! More likely these are the jobs Mr. Obama dangled before the mindless masses during the campaign. We’ll see how THAT works out. What a New Deal.