The Cowboys are making their way towards the Super Bowl. Garth Brooks is on tour. The World Health Organization is warning of a global health scare with origins in Africa. Police officers are accused of violating the civil rights of an unarmed African American man. And there’s serious talk in Congress about raising the federal gas tax. It may sound a lot like 1993 but it’s actually 2015.
A lot that’s old is new again – and that includes a discussion about the federal gas tax. As prices continue to plummet at the pump, reaching the lowest levels in more than five years, lawmakers think now might be the perfect time to consider a increase. The current federal gas tax stands at 18.4 cents per gallon and has not been increased in more than 20 years – since 1993.
Unlike many other taxes which are tied to inflation, the federal gas tax is not subject to automatic increases. That means that bumps have to be voted on: a politically dangerous move.
That explains why a measure like H.R. 3636, introduced in 2013 by Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), which would have phased in a 15 cent/gallon tax increase over three years on gasoline and diesel eventually failed – despite an imminent funding crisis.
And it explains why, in 2010, former Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH) lost his battle to increase the gas tax, claiming that it could help the economy. He wrote on his web site at the time that boosting the tax “just a few cents could help create jobs, improve our infrastructure and better the climate.” Voinovich even channeled his inner Reagan, citing the former’s President’s comments that “Good tax policy decrees that, wherever possible, a fee for a service should be assessed against those who directly benefit from that service.” Under President Reagan, the gas tax increased by five cents per gallon (in 1982); the next increase came under President George H. W. Bush (another nickel, this one in 1990). The last increase happened on President Clinton’s watch in 1993. Since that time, however, there’s been no movement on the tax – even as more cars hit the roads.
Instead, Congress has been shifting money around, transferring over $50 billion of General Fund revenue to the Highway Trust Fund since the Highway Trust Fund has been losing money for years. Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) called those moves “literally generational theft.”
(You can read more about the history of the gas tax here.)
Sen. Corker thinks shifting the money from fund to fund needs to stop. Together with Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), he’s proposed an increase in the tax. Under the proposal, the gas tax would increase by six cents per gallon each year for two years, a 12 cent increase. Sen. Corker noted, however, that the tax would have to be offset by some other tax in order to pass the new Congress.
It’s not the only proposal making the rounds. Sen. John Thune (R-SD), the incoming Chair of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, has signaled that he would not be opposed to an increase. Noting the $100 billion shortfall in the Highway Trust Fund, he said that “we have to look at all the options.” He told ‘Fox News Sunday’ that “I don’t think we take anything off the table at this point.”
In contrast, the President does not support raising the gas tax. Press Secretary Josh Earnest said, “We don’t believe the best way to fund modernizing our infrastructure is to raise the gas tax.” The President is, however, he said, open to “compromise.”
