FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
Prices at the pump could be headed higher, but don't blame Big Oil or OPEC this time.
A transit panel set up by congress is proposing a huge hike in gasoline taxes - by as much as forty cents a gallon over five years. The money would be used to repair aging roadways and bridges and ease congestion on highways. The National Surface Transportation Policy And Revenue Study Commission suggests raising the current tax of about 18 cents a gallon for unleaded gas about 5 to 8 cents a year, for 5 years. The tax would then be adjusted for inflation.
The panel was set-up following that bridge collapse in Minneapolis to give recommendations on how to fix U.S. roads, ports and mass transit systems.
It is estimated the cost of doing all this work would be $225 billion a year for the next fifty years... Which means we'll probably do the same thing we've been doing for the last 50 years when it comes to maintaining our infrastructure... Mostly nothing. So here's the question: Should the gasoline tax be raised by 40 cents a gallon over five years to pay for improvements and repairs to the nation's infrastructure?
Here’s my question to you: Should the gasoline tax be raised by 40 cents a gallon over five years to pay for improvements and repairs to the nation's infrastructure?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Kevin writes:
We pay tolls when we travel on toll roads, yet I seldom see the improvements that are promised with our toll money. What makes me think a 40 cents a gallon tax would be used to repair our infrastructure? About 30 cents of that tax will end up in some fat cat’s pocket. Why not develop a public works program, hire the unemployed, and put them to work fixing the roads?
Barbi writes:
I thought we were moving towards helping the middle class. I realize that maintaining roads and bridges is indeed important, but even suggesting anything that would make gas prices go higher than they are is absurd.
J.C. from New York writes:
It makes sense to me that those who use the roads, should pay for their upkeep. Our gas costs are the lowest of any developed country anyway.
Mike from Martinez, California writes:
This is just a backdoor way to raise taxes. If anyone believes that the tax will be used for what it is suppose to be, they are dreaming.
Alex writes:
Maybe if we take the money that it takes to put some of these commissions together, we would not have to raise anything. I thought, like most Americans, that we pay taxes for these purposes already.
David writes:
If they raise gas by 40 cents a gallon. I won't be needing any roads. Just a foot path will do.