Congressman John Campbell's Blog - Green Eyeshade Blog

Friday, September 07, 2007

Posted by: John Campbell at 2:00 PM

The recent bridge collapse in Minnesota has caused some warranted alarm as to the structural integrity of other bridges throughout the United States. According to the National Bridge Inventory, approximately 12% of American bridges are structurally deficient.

Chairman Jim Oberstar of the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee has recently advocated an increase in the gasoline tax by 5 cents per gallon dedicated to a new bridge repair fund.

Currently, you pay a federal gas tax of 18.4 cents per gallon each time you fill up. A majority of this tax is placed in the highway maintenance portion of the Highway Trust Fund, which is designed to maintain safe roads and bridges. However in recent years, Congress funneled some of this tax money directly into the general treasury even while transportation spending by the federal government increased from $39 billion in 1996 to $70 billion in 2006. That’s a 77% increase over 10 years; far outgrowing the inflation rate or the growth rate in the overall federal budget.

Perhaps rather than rushing almost instinctively to create a new tax, Congress should examine the current spending priorities in transportation funding and get rid of wasteful Davis-Bacon laws requiring a "union wage", which can be up to 28% greater than the prevailing wage for federal government contracts. The federal government would then be free to competitively bid contracts that are better, more efficient, and less costly. The money saved can be applied to the necessary federal highway infrastructure improvements.

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judgedredd1 writes:	Friday, September, 07, 2007 4:00 PM
How about
we get rid of all the alphabet agencies in the government and send them all home and tell them to get real jobs. Bring back our troops and stop borrowing from China. How about we stop sending money we don't have to other governments to support them. Then we may have a shot at fixing our infrastructure without raising taxes.
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Rich writes:	Saturday, September, 08, 2007 2:48 AM
or if
or if all the gas taxes collected were spent on roads. Gas taxes pay for other things like mass transit (which is used by a very small percent of the population by the way) or on non-transportation things like bike trails.
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Arby writes:	Saturday, September, 08, 2007 12:29 PM
Hard to believe
The government takes 18.4 cents from EVERY SINGLE GALLON of gas purchased -- and yet, that's not enough to maintain roads and bridges? How stupid do you think Americans are, that we believe you pseudo-representatives in Washington need another 5 cents per gallon? You don't need it. What you need to do is CUT SPENDING on all the incredibly gross unnecessary projects you manage to bring up and sustain every year. "However in recent years, Congress funneled some of this tax money directly into the general treasury." Here is the issue, John Campbell. STOP redirecting the money, or the whole lot of you in Washington are going to find yourselves eventually unelected. I will be one who participates in that processs -- gladly.
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About John Campbell

John Campbell is a member of the House Financial Services Committee, and has taken a leadership role in addressing the country's top economic issues. Campbell serves as a member of the Joint Economic Committee, and House Committee on the Budget. He has a Bachelor's Degree in Economics from UCLA and a Master's Degree in Taxation from USC.