Highlands Today
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Lawmakers Should Get Rid Of Pork Before Mulling Gas Tax Hike
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Published: July 21, 2008
Good-bye summer gas tax holiday. Hello, higher gas taxes.
If you are outraged that gas taxes might go up instead of coming down for the summer, we don't blame you. But the way things are going, it's a possibility that we will be paying more to Uncle Sam when we gas up.
Just as the country was digesting the possibility of the 90-day hiatus on gas taxes for the summer to alleviate gas prices, lawmakers learned that a trust fund that pays for road construction and repair countrywide is actually heading in the red, and needs every dime it can from the gas taxes that fund it.
Lawmakers are now quietly talking about raising fuel taxes by a dime from the current 18.4 cents a gallon on gasoline and 24.3 cents on diesel fuel to pay for the expected deficit, the Associated Press reports.
Should that happen, it, of course, means that motorists will be paying 10 cents more for gas.
The Highway Trust Fund is used to pay for road construction, repair and mass transit. When motorists drive less, the fund realizes less money - and that's what's been happening.
We didn't particularly like the idea of the gas tax holiday so we are not mourning its likely demise. But far more ominous is what will happen to road projects countrywide if the feds have less money in the trust fund to give out to the states.
This could mean that our own Highlands County could get less from the state for its road work, in addition to collecting less in local gas tax dollars, with fewer people pumping or just pumping less here.
Instead of asking taxpayers to pay more and bear more, lawmakers should first make an earnest effort to root out pork projects from transportation bills. We don't need any more "roads to nowhere." Endless earmarks on roads and bridges dot bills that every year go before Congress. How many of them don't need to see the light of the day? We bet quite a few. If the Congress cares about helping this nation cope with galloping gas prices, it needs to be a better custodian of taxpayer money, and it can start by rooting out its own pet projects to buy favors.
It will be interesting to see how our very own asphalt plant pans out in the coming years. If it does help this county realize the savings it's expected to, imagine how it can catch on elsewhere.
We need this asphalt plant to succeed more than ever before. Our roads right now can support our current population, and with the ongoing Parkway expansion, U.S. 27 should see the traffic relief it needs. But as the county grows, it will need more money to continue paving and resurfacing roads. If federal and state funds dry up or dwindle, this asphalt fund - depending on how it goes - could well save our day.
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