U.S. Rep. Betsy Markey, D-Colo., appeared in a video addressing the Western States Transportation Alliance. It caught our eye because Markey spends the whole beginning of this greeting talking about potential taxes to pay for spending in a surface transportation bill.
“The biggest hurdle facing the authorization is how to pay for it. The gas tax has not been increased since 1993. With inflation and other factors such as more fuel efficient cars, the current gas tax cannot sufficiently fund the highway trust fund. There are many discussions as to what is the best way to fund the transportation trust fund: increasing the gas tax, implementing a vehicle-miles traveled tax, and a tax on oil speculation. All of these are on the table.”
While increased taxes are on the table, a Sunlight Foundation report last month revealed, “Nearly $120 million in Federal Transit Administration earmarks that were introduced and approved by Congress have sat untouched in FTA accounts for years and have now lapsed, according to an FTA list.”
Do you ever get the feeling that policymakers in Washington dole out more taxpayer money than they know what to do with?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Kelly Maher
[...] the original post: Markey talks increasing taxes for roads | WhoSaidYouSaid Comments [...]
[...] In a video appearance before the Western States Transportation Alliance, Congresswoman Betsy Markey “spends the whole beginning of this greeting talking about potential taxes to pay for spending in a surface transportation bill” reports Who Said You Said, which posted the video. [...]
Glad you finally dumped the Blogger template.
But I digress. Hard to believe that I can tire of Markey bloviating after about 60 seconds, she could have, and should have, summed it up quickly rather than speaking in circles. In this economy (especially if she plans on keeping her job) she needs to cut wasteful spending rather than burdening people with more taxes.