A new bill has been introduced in the House that would see a 15 cent per gallon increase in fuel taxes as a solution to the highway funding deficit. The bill, being called the UPDATE Act, has been presented by Representative Earl Blumenauer of Oregon.
Rep. Blumenauer has said that the fuel tax increase could serve as a short-term stop-gap to keep the Highway Trust Fund alive. According to him, the “short-term” increase would be only temporary until a more stable source of funding can be found by 2024.
The new gas tax would be phased in next year and would attach fuel taxes to inflation.
The bill is based on recommendations from numerous different sources including the National Surface Transportation Policy, the Revenue Commission, and the National Surface Transportation Financing Commission.
While many in the industry won’t welcome any new fuel taxes, some will be happy to see the burden of funding our highways spread to all those who use our nation’s roads rather than just being focused on commercial motor vehicles. The American Trucking Association has come out in favor of the bill, saying that it will help our “woefully underfunded” roadways.
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Kalak says
HA HA HA! Since when has any fuel tax ever turned out to be temporary? Once these politicians get their hands on money it’s theirs forever. And any bets on whether or not it actually go to maintaining roads?
sam says
EXACTLY!!!!!
Ian Weir says
There is no such thing in government as “short-term”. Once implemented it will be there indefinitely and will be used for what ever the government wants to do with the money and it probably won’t be used for highways but for raises for dead beat politicians.
I am some what surprised that the “The American Trucking Association” is in favour of it, but their probably on the governments payroll as well.
Scott Sr says
I agree with Kalak mostly but I do agree that as the ATA stated ” that it will help our “woefully underfunded” roadways “. However how about we not get taxed more and how about it get done to the producers, not like their making any profits lol … but in the end it would come down on us because you all know that if the producers or retails are taxed then it just doubles the cost of said tax when it comes down to us.
QM says
Comrade Prince Blumenauer has never met a tax he did not like. I believe the income tax was originally a temporary tax.
will says
Why not? They do not use the .41cent fuel tax that we already pay for road work. Nor the $550.00 annual H.U.T we pay for road work. Go ahead snack another . 15 cent tax on us so the politions can have more spending money and longer vacations. Look at the North Eastern States that hit us with high tolls and taxes, they have the worst roads in the country. It is time for me to get out of this and let this new generation have it. Trucking is nothing to be proud of anymore.
Stan says
They collect MORE than enough money in taxes, the problem is they need ROAD taxes to pay for ROADS only, Bridge tolls should cover BRIDGES only, and TOLL roads should cover TOLL roads only.
Quit siphoning tax money, collected under those entities for all of the other pet programs that have nothing to due with road/fuel/toll/bridges costs.
Brian says
Would you have preferred the ridiculous alternatives? More toll roads? GPS tracking under the guise of a per mile tax? The federal fuel tax hasn’t been raised in 20 years. When you stack that against the odds of inflation and vehicles being more fuel efficient, there’s less money to take care of/build more infrastructure. I am very fiscally conservative and don’t care for taxes either, but this was the right thing to do. It’s the fairest federal tax you’ll ever pay.
Kalak you do raise a point possibly worth making noise about. According to Wikipedia, then-Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters stated on August 15, 2007 that about 60% of federal gas taxes are used for highway and bridge construction. The remaining 40% goes to earmarked programs. However, revenues from other taxes are also used in federal transportation programs. This was 5 year ago though. Things may have changed with all the transportation fund battles. I haven’t been able to find any other data on this offhand.
Brian says
Stan my apologies; you posted as I was writing. I agree with you for the most part. However, even if federal fuel taxes went 100% into federal roads, and general fund funding of federal roads stopped, which I think we both agree would be proper, I don’t think it would cover it. I say that after reading this slanted piece of “journalism” that attempted to make you believe what you thought was true wasn’t, then presents the facts proving true what you basically believed in the first place!
http://dc.streetsblog.org/2013/01/23/drivers-cover-just-51-percent-of-u-s-road-spending/
On this taxation purist thing, why aren’t everyone’s federal and state fuel taxes waived for all toll miles?! I believe SOME states do it for you through IFTA, which is nice, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg!
Stan says
No problem Brian, and while I agree that the tax hasn’t been raised in 20 years, there are also a LOT more vehicles on the road than 20 years ago.
But the bigger issue that I was alluding to is that you may be right, even IF 100% of the taxes paid this year went into roads/bridges it may not be enough.
But here is the rub in that scenario, the roads/bridges are in such bad shape NOW, BECAUSE of misappropriations of funds over the last 50 years, that issue lies solely with the same government officials that now want more money.
It just pisses me off to no end that as a small business you have to make smart decisions, put your ass on the line, and do everything right to succeed, but it seems that no one in the employment of any government agency has any responsibility to anyone for there actions.
Ok, I’m done, I feel much better now! LOL
Sean says
You hit the nail on the head. The government hasn’t been using the funds properly from the beginning. They can add all the taxes they want. Until they spend the money appropriately, nothing will change.
Jeffy says
It’s sad to see America disappearing so fast.In the last 18 yrs I have seen fuel prices go from89 cents to well near 5 dollars a on back to near 4. Now that’s freakn scandalized. I more jumping to the band wagon of close the borders ,buy American and start taking.care of ours selfs.Im a young man that wants to eventually be in buisness for himself one day.My dreams keep geting shot down.leave it to some lib. They all have homes to back to when they make there money.while we’re trying to pay taxes for them to start new buisness and grants for there Microsoft intern Siri asses.sad
Craig says
We have been paying an unofficial tax thanks to the EPA’s tiers of never ending emmision garbage. A reduction in fuel mileage from 7 miles per gallon to 6 miles per gallon on an average 100,000 miles gives the feds an extra $580.19. The average of the state taxes is close to 20 cents which gives the states an extra $476.18. We should have been well past 8mpg as a normal fleet averages had the engine companies been allowed to develop mileage instead pollution controls.
It is just big government and big business making sure they get their share. I would gladly pay an 3 cents a mile to not beat my equipment to death on these pathetic excuses of roads I travel 5 days a week. Now I can guess that I will get raked at the pump and still drive on pathetic roads.
Chris Hoppman says
Like it or not an increase in the fuel tax is the best and fairest way to increase funding for roads. Most of us will be able to recoup our additional costs from this through a fuel surcharge. Try doing that with toll increases and new toll roads which is the more popular funding solution today.
As with all things having to do with politicians at all levels of government the devil will be in the details.
robin says
what is really scary is read the road tax act it can be found on ODOT’s site. I have been following this for a long time, and it is a variable fee that can change based on the time of day, how much traffic is on the road, hidden toll fees, etc.
the way the tax is collected, when you get to the pump, the pump reads the information from the unit installed in your car and bills you for all the miles traveled before you get any fuel.
I have not heard how often that they can change the rates.
and of course that money excuse does not fly when you look at how much money is wasted
some of the ODOT projects and one of them is a $200,000 project for intersection at westbound beltline and Delta, there is a camera just above the directional signs that is not a traffic light control camera, it’s a smaller camera with infrared light emitter is around it for night vision and ODOT says its sole purpose is to county occupancy inside your vehicle.
And that’s just one example.
sam says
Hi…about this camera with the infrared light, haven’t seen one around So, Florida, what state or city have you seen these in? This sounds too much like the book ‘1984’.
robin says
“county occupancy inside your vehicle.”= count occupancy inside your vehicle. Voice dictation software sometimes says what it wants to say if you don’t catch it 🙂
Kern says
Too bad said tax won’t decrease our fuel taxes… But then it only makes sense that we will pay it for our business and personal vehicles. No matter, they’ll get their revenue from us (truckers) one way or another in the end.
EB says
It seems the ATA would be in favor of the bill if the states build or incorporate truck lanes only. This is an assumption, but how else can improving the roads help with transportation other than give the 4 wheelers more freedom to fly around the big trucks and create havoc. The other thought would be to cut down on wear and tear of the big trucks, making a smoother road would cut down on the pounding these things take. The thought is really what would be in it for them to back the bill, I’m sure like every other lobbying or political group the hand is out for a reason. Well what ever happens I’m sure the surcharges will keep going up also. So here comes the inflation folks. Someone going to pay a bigger price than someone else.
I also agreed that when the government implements a law its never short term, with the bureaucracy in place nothing gets done short term.
Dean says
First answer the question WHY and WHAT?
WHY…the increase of fuel tax? Just because it hasn’t been raised in 20yrs? And what is it truly going to be used for? Roads? Bridges?
WHAT…happens now to the $42 billion collected annually by DOT through tolls, taxes, and fines? It certainly isn’t being spent to repair our system. Roads are terrible and bridges falling down. Before I’ll spend .15¢ extra on fuel tax, you’d better tell me where the hell the $42 billion collected annually is spent! Not to mention the stimulus given to each state for that very same reason, which amounted in the trillions!
Stormy says
I am just getting too old or too tired to keep up with all of the regulations and foolishness going on. Your normal motorists hate truckers and any time they hear of a new regulation they are all in and think it is wonderful that truckers are being so carefully watched and we are having to pay for the damage we do to the roads. At least they are all in as long as isn’t in their back yard.
This tax will be in everybody’s back yard. When I get into a “discussion” about the consequences of any regulation or new tax on trucking then they suddenly figure out that it is in their back yard. For the gasoline buyer they are going to get double dipped and haven’t got enough sense to figure out that the increase in a fuel tax will be passed on to the consumer and they will get the gas tax on top of that.
I see no hope of anything changing until we get somebody in Washington who has an ounce of sense and so far I haven’t seen anybody with any “lights on” there.
I think I just finally gave up when they were talking millions and I started thinking that was no more than pocket change. I am starting to get the same feeling when they talk about billions since we have now advanced to trillions. For my budget, I used to think in hundreds and have had to adjust to thousands. Thousands used to send me into a tizzy but now it is the norm for spending, however, the freight rates are still in the hundreds. You just can’t continue to spend $2 for every $1 you make without winding up in the same situation the government is in.
I will park my truck and let it sit before I let the government bankrupt me. They can take care of me until somebody can figure out that increasing taxes instead of stopping all the wasteful spending is the only way they will make any change in the economy. I just fear they will bankrupt the government before I get a chance to park my truck.
Bill says
Temporary til 2024?? Have never seen the government implement a tax that is only temporary. When have they ever removed a tax? Quit trying to sugarcoat your tax bill by lying and saying its temporary.
Todd says
“Short Term” ? how many times have we heard something like this from that bunch of con artist running this country .
Doc says
Government and Taxes, once created, cannot be destroyed. This is a fundamental law of physics.
marcusJones says
Wait a minute, I just read the price of fuel is expected to drop to 3.77 average. Could this be some si rt of quid pro quo?