US Congress May Need To Raise Gasoline Tax - Sen. Durbin
By Josh Mitchell, Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- The U.S. Senate's No. 2 Democrat believes Congress
may need to raise the federal gasoline tax as early as next year to boost
spending on highway projects, his spokesman confirmed Tuesday, as lawmakers
renew their push for a major highway-construction bill.
The remarks by Sen. Richard Durbin (D., Ill.) come as the Obama administration
studies ways to boost job growth without adding to the federal budget deficit.
Durbin recently called for passing a major highway bill early next year to
create jobs, but has declined to say where money for the program would come
from.
But his spokesman, Max Gleischman, confirmed comments the senator made at a
development summit in Iowa last month about the prospect of a gasoline-tax
increase. Durbin said Congress may need to raise the 18.4-cent federal tax on
each gallon of gasoline to pay for the bill.
"We have to pay for it, and paying for it may mean an increase in the federal
gas tax," Durbin said at the summit, according to an account by the Quincy (
Ill.) Herald-Whig. "Nobody wants to say those words. I've said them to you
because, unless we're honest about this, we're not going to see an [adequate]
federal highway bill."
Congress remains divided about how to pay for a new highway-construction bill.
A House bill would channel $450 billion in funds to states over six years to
upgrade roads, bridges and transit systems. The total would include $70 billion
each year to spend on highway and mass-transit systems.
But the current source of funding, the gasoline tax, has become inadequate as
Americans drive less and buy more fuel-efficient vehicles.
The current transportation law is set to expire in December after recent
extensions by Congress.
Congress is expected to extend the law into next year, keeping transportation
funding formulas at their current levels, with debate on a new law possibly
beginning in the spring.
-By Josh Mitchell, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-6637; joshua.mitchell@
dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
11-10-091133ET
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