Washington debating increasing federal gas tax - or getting rid of it

Some states seek control

David Crossley, Aug 05, 11.

Fourteen Republican Senators have proposed a bill (S. 1446) that would end the federal gas tax system and allow states to keep their money and build transportation infrastructure as they wish, free from national priorities, environmental, labor, and environmental justice restrictions, and hindrances to just building roads, according to CNN Money, Land Line Magazine, and the AASHTO Journal. A companion bill (H.R. 1585) has been filed in the US House of Representatives.

Others, including GM and the US Chamber of Commerce, have been calling for increasing the Federal gas tax, which has not been increased since 1993, noting that gas taxes and transit user fees already are being supported by other federal sources of funds, according to the Washington Post.