Abolish the Gas Tax, Says the Journal

Our article of two months ago — Congress Can’t Even Fix the Gas Tax" — made the obvious point that, with our roads and bridges falling into disrepair, the tax on gasoline and diesel should be increased. Not increased, actually — just adjusted for inflation.

Since that article, which treats the subject in greater detail, the price of oil has dropped below $50 a barrel and gasoline is under $2 a gallon in much of the nation. It is the perfect moment to adjust the tax. Senators Bob Corker (R-Tn) and Chris Murphy (D-Ct) have proposed a 6 cents a gallon increase each year for two years, yet the new Republican-controlled Congress, even though safely ensconced in their seats and protected by a full two years until the next election, is too timid to take any action. With next to nothing to be done other than to raise the rate of a tax already in place, we have John Boehner on "60 Minutes" answering Scott Pelli about a gas tax increase with, "we believe that through tax reform" — you know, that tax reform that never happens — "we can find the funds to fund a long-term highway bill".

The Obama administration is silent on the issue as well. It prefers to get the money from the illusory elimination of "corporate tax loopholes" rather than alienate with a cost increase the middle class it has chosen to champion as its last hurrah.

In effect since 1956, the tax rate was last set at 18.4 cents per gallon of gasoline (24.4 cents for diesel) in 1993 and has not changed since, with the result that inflation has evaporated the buying power of the gas tax to about 11 cents a gallon and 14.5 for diesel. Other factors — Americans use more fuel efficient cars, some of them hybrids, to drive less — reduce the take still more. Anyone driving the interstates these days is likely to come upon long stretches of highway with shifted lanes and concrete barriers but no construction equipment or crews in sight — projects halted for lack of funds in keeping with the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) facing a deficit of an estimated $160 billion over the next decade. Some 70,000 bridges are considered to be "structurally deficient".

Yet in a week when yet another bridge collapsed (photo), The Wall Street Journal published an editorial titled "Abolish the Gas Tax", (and just two
One dead in Cincinnati bridge collapse
weeks after publishing an op-ed titled "Top 10 Reasons to Abolish the Corporate Income Tax"). Why not abolish all taxes and see what happens.

The American Society of Civil Engineers in 2013 gave the nation’s roads a near failing grade of "D"and bridges "C+" but the editorial writers call it a "myth" that U.S. roads and bridges are "crumbling". The "solons" in Congress who would like to fix the tax are called "gougers" set upon ruining U.S. consumers' "lucky break" of cheap gas. Leave the tax as is, says the WSJ's own solons and "some projects would merely be delayed, or states and cities would fill the gaps". Those mere delays are what have led to the nation's collapsing infrastructure but we are cheered to learn that states and cities are awash in money.

"The 47,714 miles of the interstate highway…system was officially finished in 1992", so "it is less rational for drivers nationwide to send so many dollars to Washington". If you can make sense of their apparent beliefe that roads do not need maintenance, then why their other gripe that the HTF has diverted funds to mass transit, light rail, ferries, bike lanes and other modes of transport. Perhaps it's the word "highway" in the HTF name, but it is not made clear why it is improper to spend on other ways consumers use to get to work.

Such diversions have "increased 38% since 2008" but no data is given about how much of the total fund goes to other transportation purposes. Better to leave the reader fuming that diversions also include "sidewalks, hiking trails, urban planning and even landscaping" than to point out whatever tiny amounts are involved, if at all. It is a confused presentation. "Today, the costs of transportation can be reasonably borne by the people who enjoy the benefits", the editorial says. Well, yes, that's what the gas tax is for. Possibly they mean people within states paying for their own roads. To really assure that the nation's infrastructure falls to pieces, the more doctrinaire Republicans want the entire burden of maintaining roads and bridges to be borne by the states as part of their unending campaign to Balkanize the United States into 50 economically disparate zones. It is a particularly inept application of that doctrine inasmuch as roads do not end at state lines. ("Caution: sudden change in road conditions as you are entering a poorer state").

The gas and diesel tax may not perfectly correlate to road use but it has the advantage of being in place, and the money is needed right now. Better schemes such as a fee based on vehicle mileage, which would have to be collected directly from vehicle owners, will take years to implement. If Republicans can't summon the gumption to accomplish something as simple and necessary as marking up the tax to account for inflation, what should we expect when they confront difficult issues over the next two years?