https://thehill.com/homenews/house/558954-pelosi-rejects-gas-tax-to-cover-infrastructure-costs Pelosi is against increasing the gas tax to pay for infrastructure because it is regressive and puts more of the burden on the commuting workers of the lower and middle class. She is correct. Let's go further, and point out that a single semi truck or dump truck does more wear and tear on the road than even 50 regular cars. The gas tax has always been inherently unfair and has encouraged industry to shift towards truck-based rather than rail-based transport over the decades because the costs are subsidized by the commuting public rather than being built into the price of the goods. Gas isn't a vice to be taxed, even with climate change problems. Gas taxes should be more proportional to the vehicles causing the most wear.
Sinema and Manchin are going to be the undoing of the Democrats accomplishing anything in this window of control they possess over the the three parts of the law making process. Sinema's op-ed in the Washington Post defending the filibuster was naive and stupid and Manchin is going to lose to a Republican, anyway, in that state.
I'm not a fan of removing the filibuster, but I'm 100% in favor of removing the procedural one. If someone wants to filibuster make them stand at the podium until they drop.
And ya, Democrats potentially won't recover for years from what Sinema/Manchin are doing. They're both only politicians and actually don't care about anything more than landing nice spots after office.
I thought the filibuster had to be kept going, and people just chose not to because it could mean never getting any work done?
As long as it is equitable to the gas tax, it seems no more unjust than the unjust gas tax. The flaw is really the gas tax, itself and mileage tax for electric vehicles that still do not factor in wheel count/weight are just a continuation of that.
As I have read, the implementation is the challenging part. I have seen chips placed in cars that lead to privacy concerns (Big brother tracking where I have been).
I would think the easiest would be to calculate the average distance a driver drives per year, and base a flat fee off that. most drivers pay less than 200 dollars a year in gas tax. customizing it for the tails of the distribution is unnecessary. and if that isn't good enough, then create a new system entirely and get rid of the gas tax
I have seen some jurisdictions doing it now tracking milage, where you drive, and pay additional fees based upon time of day and location (inside city or rural)
Now, do they do that only for residents or for businesses or commercial through-traffic as well? You can see what I mean, that residential use is being unfairly burdened directly such that there is not behavioral feedback on business decisions for logistics.
