Republican John Mica, Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, recently gave an interview on his hopes to crank out a new transportation bill this year, even in a partisan congress. He also addressed rumors of raiding the Highway Trust Fund and stretching infrastructure money farther.
You can listen to the interview here, and read the transcript. You can even download the MP3 file there in case you want to put it on your MP3 player to listen to over and over.
Any thoughts after listening to/reading this?
2 comments:
Well my feeling is they need to raise the gas tax or else they will put in another tax that is less fair to people that drive a little like me or do not drive at all. The gas tax is the fairest to everyone that drives, and maybe just maybe people will drive less if the cost is more.
Considering that it looks like transportation will get fewer federal dollars in the next transportation bill, some sort of action, like a gas or other tax, will HAVE to be taken. Because lawmakers are trying to raise the maximum amount of money possible though, I'm not sure a gas tax will be the way they will go. Studies show that people are driving less, and that translates to less money coming in from gas taxes.
Locally, the Transportation Benefit District discussion is back on at the City, and work will be getting underway again soon to push a regional TBD. I guess folks that ride transit or walk most often could avoid the tax by not registering their vehicle, thereby not paying the proposed $20 tax, by they've kind of got you over a barrel there as far as fairness. If you drive at all, you need to have license tabs, which means you will have to pay the fee.
All speculation though of course, because as crazy as things have been lately, no one really knows what could happen.
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