It’s Time To Raise The Gas Tax By $1 A Gallon

Record low gas prices around the country create a unique opportunity to rebuild America’s infrastructure, help the auto industry and pay our debts.

As gas prices continue to drop to a nine-year low, according to the Automobile Association of America, and barrels of oil hover around $35, the time has come for the federal government to raise its gasoline tax. And not by a few pennies, or even a doubling of the 18.4 cents per gallon last raised in 1994.

It needs to go up a lot.

Last week, Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) tried to pass an amendment to raise the gas tax by 15 cents. That amendment died on the House floor for lots of reasons, some sound and some silly. But Blumenauer’s biggest mistake was thinking too small—a common problem in Washington D.C.

The federal government needs to put a $1 tax on every gallon of gasoline sold, which would raise about $140 billion dollars a year, according the estimated 136.78 billion gallons of gasoline used by Americans, according to the U.S. Energy Information Agency.

The transportation funding bill signed by President Obama last Friday calls for roughly $60 billion a year for the next five years. The new proposal is less than half what the Heritage Foundation estimates the Highway Trust Fund needs. A $1 a gallon tax provides serious money for a serious problem. So let’s tax gas by a buck and start fixing our roads.

This idea certainly goes against my libertarian leanings, but since no viable plan has been offered, and we still need roads, let’s do it. Gas prices are low. The people who use them should pay for them. Let’s artificially raise them and get people paving, fixing, and making better roads. There would be still money left for bike lanes and public transportation along highways.

That would certainly be enough money to calm the infrastructure doomsayers, at least through Christmas. No doubt, billions will be wasted on political boondoggles and pet projects like budget-breaking bullet trains.