WASHINGTON (AP) -- A special commission is urging the government to raise federal gasoline taxes by as much as 40 cents per gallon over five years as part of a sweeping overhaul designed to ease traffic congestion and repair the nation's decaying bridges and roads.
The two-year study being released Tuesday by the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission, the first to recommend broad changes after the devastating bridge collapse in Minnesota last August, warns that urgent action is needed to avoid future disasters.
Under the recommendation, the current tax of 18.4 cents per gallon for unleaded gasoline would be increased annually for five years -- by anywhere from 5 cents to 8 cents each year -- and then indexed to inflation afterward to help fix the infrastructure, expand public transit and highways as well as broaden railway and rural access, according to persons with direct knowledge of the report, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the report is not yet public.
The report also calls for rebuilding and expanding the national rail network to meet a growing demand for alternatives to congested highways.
Continuing to apply patches to the nation's aging infrastructure is "no longer acceptable," and without dramatic changes, "the nation's system of transportation will further deteriorate," according to the report, portions of which were read to the AP.
According to a CNN report.
======
I've stated repeatedly that our gas is woefully underpriced. Not only is it not paying for basic infrastructure upkeep, but it fails to account for a vast amount of damage caused by automobile users - from stream and air pollution to traffic wrecks to sprawl. Nor does it account for oil company and driver subsidies. Nor does it account for the military cost of defending "our" oil.
The actual costs of gasoline vary - depending upon who's trying to do the calculating but typically range from $5 - $15 a gallon (and most of those studies were done back when gas was costing $1/gallon!).
Some sources:
icta.org
ethanol.org
iags.org
evworld.com
If prices were to even just begin to reflect actual costs, we may begin to see a revolution in our society away from the personal auto and towards a more localized economy, both of which are vital for our national security and hope for the world, seems to me.
14 comments:
Well put Dan. I cringe at the thought of gas prices going that high, but I already do not travel very much.
The rise of gas prices to "seemingly" exorbitant levels may indirectly save the planet as well!
Thanks, BB. I sorta hope for a large enough increase in gas prices that it hurts a good deal - enough that people HAVE to re-evaluate our fossil-fuel based economy and begin to use less.
But at the same time, I hope that it doesn't go up so far and so fast that it causes great harm to the poor, who will likely bear an unfair/disproportionate amount of pain due to increased prices.
$15 per gallon, here, would destroy the U.S. economy... utterly trash it at the very least. Banks would collapse, the housing market would "really" collapse. Service industries would collapse. Transportation would collapse.
To ease the price of oil in America it would be prudent to begin drilling in ANWR and the Florida coast. The Chinese are drilling in the Gulf, why aren't we?
Oil for transportation, of course, is just a temporary solution. America needs to hail back to the days when she could accomplish anything she set her mind to... New technology is required for transportation and energy in the 21st century, but oil is used for far more than just fueling our cars and heating our homes. Can anyone say "Plastics"?
Moving the price of a gallon of gas to $15 bucks in THIS country would result in riots, a lot of political heads rolling, and the media turning on the Democrat party as well as the Republican...
Then again, they just may begin reporting the news instead of editorializing everything...
Hmmm...
No. It's not worth the suffering that would result.
Oh! just saw this word...
"Disproportionate"
Much of the middle class would also suffer.
Eric said:
No. It's not worth the suffering that would result.
So, are you saying you agree that we're not paying real costs for gasoline but you're okay with the gov't subsidizing drivers and fossil fuels in general so as not to hurt the economy?
Or, do you think we ARE paying real costs for gasoline?
The problem, seems to me, is that to not pay real costs just pushes the costs off on others - whether that's future generations, the poor, the environment, people in other countries or all of the above. And that can't happen indefinitely. If we're subsidizing gasoline to the tune of $10/gallon, that's a hit on our economy of trillions of dollars.
And, as gasoline becomes increasingly scarce, those prices will just increase and the desire for motorist welfare will just increase (see Bush's visit to Saudi Arabia to try to convince them to help the poor Americans out).
There is no substitute for the fossil fuel energy we are using up at the rates we're using. Eventually, we'll be forced to live within our means. I'm just hoping that it happens sooner and yet gradually enough that too many aren't harmed.
To ease the price of oil in America it would be prudent to begin drilling in ANWR and the Florida coast. The Chinese are drilling in the Gulf, why aren't we?
I don't believe it would be prudent at all. At the very best, it would be a temporary easing of an on-going problem.
We need to live within our means and not continue to insist that we can depend upon a finite product infinitely.
I don't think we want to model our energy and environmental policies on China.
ANWAR? Kidding, (R)ight?
One problem might be that gas hikes disproportionaly effect the poor. In addition, we need to move our taxes away from a gas consumption tax. After all, how are we going to pay for things if nobody drives?
The only clear answer here, to me, seems to be that the continued destruction of the environment is not an option. The rest seems pretty murky.
My Dad was a petrochemical engineer and built refineries in the U.S. and Europe. He's told me that gasoline in the U.S. is (or was, back when he was in the field) producing gasoline at a loss per federal regulations and that current gas prices do not reflect the actual substantial costs for turning crude oil into usable gasoline.
And off topic, he's also taught me to always use premium gasoline. Refineries have to get rid of waste products somehow, and do so by dumping them back into gasoline at levels staggered by the octane level of the fuel. There are excess stray carbon molecules in regular gasoline that ultimately degrade the firing of a combustion engine. So it's price effective to always use premium.
elashey wrote:
Moving the price of a gallon of gas to $15 bucks in THIS country would result in riots, a lot of political heads rolling, and the media turning on the Democrat party as well as the Republican...
We're a resourceful people; we'll adapt. It's not like a modern nation has to have cheap gas. Western European nations do rather well on pricely gasoline.
Go nuclear, solar, and wind, and produce electric cars, and we'll do just fine.
I agree, John, we will adapt. And we will switch to more solar, wind, etc (although hopefully not nuclear) as oil becomes less affordable.
But mostly, we'll cut back. We will be forced to do with less energy. Why? Because there is not an energy source that can match the abundant spike of energy we've plundered over the last 100 years. It was a one time deal.
Yes, we will adapt. And suffer a good 7-10 years economically because this nation has never done anything for its own good. It has always kicked its heels and moved grudgingly.
Dan, why not nuclear energy?
Nuclear waste.
Dan, don't you read comic books? Think: nuclear waste = superpowers. Sheesh. Do some research before you write off a whole form of energy production.
Post a Comment