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Gas Tax Holiday * USA - Peters: Cut reliance on gas tax to fix roads
In Detroit, Secretary of Transportation stops short of joining debate to suspend levy in summer
Detroit,Mich,USA -The Detroit News, by Christine Tierney -May 6, 2008: -- U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters said the government should reduce its reliance on fuel taxes to maintain roads, bridges and other structures but declined to weigh into an election debate over whether those taxes should be suspended for the summer... However, she added, fuel taxes are currently the main source of funding for federal transportation-related spending... Still, the government's role should be to encourage new investment and innovation in transportation, she said... Fuel taxes have become a hot issue in the presidential election, with Sens. John McCain and Hillary Clinton favoring a suspension of fuel taxes during the summer when fuel demand peaks... Sen. Barack Obama says the proposal would offer consumers little relief while reducing funding for important transportation projects. The tax holiday would cost the government $11 billion...President Bush told "ABC News" on Monday he hadn't taken a position on suspending the 18.4-cent per-gallon federal gas tax over the summer... (Photo by Rob Widdis / The Detroit News - U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters speaks to the Detroit Economic Club on Monday at the Burton Manor in Livonia)* Will it Lead to Unintended Consequences? - The fact is that our road infrastructure needs to be funded and paid for
USA -Trucker to Trucker, by George Wilkins -3 May 2008: -- I quickly jumped on the bandwagon for this one, but I've reconsidered and now I'm not so sure... As a temporary measure it might provide some relief for the troubled trucking industry, but over the long term some critical analysis is necessary... Secretary of Transportation Peters has posted an interesting blog on Fast Lane which proposes discussion and debate on the topic... She suggests “It is time for our country to embrace a far more efficient, clean, and technology-based approach to charging for road use” ... She further states, “Through the broad deployment of high-speed, open road tolling technologies coupled with hundreds of billions of dollars of private sector capital, we can begin eliminating our dependence on a failed gas tax-based transportation model.”... The how part is the issue that will garner the most attention. The reality is that most people would say we need to have a well-defined road construction and maintenance program, but I don't want to pay for it - or at least it must be fair... The rising cost of fuel has focused attention on this issue. It's an important topic for discussion, but no simple answer may be revealed... You can weigh in with your thoughts at Fast Lane.
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