Gas Tax: Congress Becomes Socialists
The tax on gasoline is a user tax. Revenue from this tax goes into the Highway Trust Fund, which uses this revenue for road maintenance and road construction. The gas tax has been held constant at 18.4 cents per gallon for 22 years. In the meantime, cars have improved miles per gallon by 25% during this period. The Highway Trust Fund is running out of money. The United States now ranks 11th in quality of highway infrastructure.
In a market driven economy, the gasoline tax should be raised so that the users of the highways pay for the maintenance and construction of the highways. This is capitalism. This is normal procedure in a market driven economy.
Members of Congress, however, have become die-hard socialists on this issue. They do not want users of the highways to pay for maintenance of the highways. They wanted to find some other source of funds so that users of the highway get a free lunch.
Grover Norquist and Americans for Tax Reform have also become socialists on this issue, opposing increasing the user tax on gasoline.
Increasing the gas tax would improve decision making in our market economy. Some people might choose more fuel efficient cars. Others might choose public transportation.
People who support capitalism and a market driven economy should support an increase in the Federal tax on gasoline. Congress did not. The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 did not raise gasoline taxes, but did provide 233 pages of tax breaks for those who could afford lobbyist.
The Capitalist
