President Donald Trump is quietly telling members of Congress that he would support a 235 per cent hike in the federal tax Americans pay for gasoline and diesel fuel.
Filling a car’s tank currently carries a federal tax of 18.4 cents per gallon, a rate that hasn’t changed since 1993.
Trump is proposing a 25-cent increase, according to Politico.
The president wants the funds to pay for a massive expansion in America’s infrastructure – including upgrades and replacements of roads, bridges, tunnels, airports, seaports and railways.
While anti-tax conservatives on Capitol Hill are chafing at the idea just months before a crucial midterm election, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce wants it phased in over a five-year period, saying it would raise $375 billion in the next decade.
President Donald Trump is telling members of Congress that he would support a hike in the federal gas and diesel tax of 25 cents per gallon to pay for ambitious infrastructure spending
The 18.4-cent federal gas tax hasn’t increased since 1993 despite nearly 70 per cent inflation since then
House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee chair Bill Shuster, a Republican from Pennsylvania, wants a 15 cents-per-gallon increase
A key Republican congressman had said two weeks ago that a 15-cent tax hike on every gallon would raise the $200 billion Trump wants to spend as an incentive for states to jump-start projects.
Rep. Bill Shuster of Pennsylvania told Bloomberg TV during a Republican congressional retreat in West Virginia that for the average American, a 15-cent increase would equal the cost of ‘a cup of coffee a week that they might have to forgo.’
‘Or if you’re a Starbucks person, half a cup of coffee … or it’s two bottles of water.’
Filling up a typical 14-gallon tank under Trump’s proposed tax scheme would cost an extra $3.50.
Americans who fill up once a week would pay about $182 per year in added taxes.
FreedomWorks president Adam Brandon said Wednesday that he would ‘hate to see a new tax siphon off 20 per cent of the $1,000 tax reform bonuses back to the swamp this year.’
Americans for Tax Reform and Americans for Prosperity piled on soon after, showing solidarity with tea-party Republicans in the House Freedom Caucus.
Trump told Republican lawmakers at their West Virginia retreat that ‘we can rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, and we will,’ promising to launch projects that are completed ‘under budget and ahead of schedule.’
The White House has proposed a total of $200 billion in federal spending on infrastructure over 10 years, betting that it will spur an additional $1.5 trillion in private-sector investment.
Democrats want $1 trillion from the Treasury as a starting point.
Either way, Congress will have to find a way to pay for it.
A Highway Trust Fund keeps infrastructure spending separate from the rest of the federal budget and is parceled out to the states according to a fixed formula for road repairs and new construction, like this one near Portsmouth, Ohio
It’s the states that actually build roads, bridges and tunnels, with some help from the Treasury in Washington
Trump’s infrastructure plan would spend $200 billion in the hope of spurring another $1.5 trillion in state and private spending – and not just on roads: airports, seaports and railroads (pictured) are also part of the equation
Infrastructure spending would take the form of highway construction and repair, along with bridges and tunnels, airports, seaports, railroads and other critical projects, many of which haven’t seen upgrades in a half-century.
Shuster chairs the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, making him a powerful force as the issue evolves.
A House GOP aide told DailyMail.com this month that if Congress had ‘indexed’ the gas tax to inflation, ‘it would already be more than 31 cents a gallon today.’
DailyMail.com’s calculations are in line with that projection.
The gas tax is assessed on each gallon, not as a sales-tax percentage of the final price for each fillup.
Republicans have been resistant to any tax increase, even one that’s seen as a user fee.
During the 2014 budget negotiations, they floated the idea of ending mail delivery on Saturdays to save money, rather than collecting more money from taxpayers.
‘Nobody wants to raise any taxes, but this is something that’s understandable, it’s efficient,’ Shuster said.