Guest Blogger: Congressman Paul Ryan (WI) Proposes Tying Gas Tax Relief to Cutting Earmarks

Over the past year, the average price of a gallon of regular gasoline has risen by nearly 25 percent.  This week, gas prices hit another record high, and are closing in on $4 per gallon.

To help give American families some immediate relief at the pump, I introduced H.R. 5995, The Gas Tax Relief Act and Earmark Moratorium Act of 2008. My bill would suspend the 18.4-cent Federal gas tax from Memorial Day through Labor Day, helping Americans get through the busy driving months of the summer while Congress works on longer-term solutions.

One critical component of my bill is that it would hold harmless the Highway Trust Fund. The Trust Fund supports many of the critical investments made in the nation’s infrastructure by the Department of Transportation.  My bill ensures the DOT can continue to do its job without disruption.

My bill actually goes a step further in investing in American roads and highways. In addition to holding the Trust Fund harmless, it will actually fix its 2009 shortfall – a problem Secretary Peters has highlighted and has worked hard to try to resolve.

Finally, my bill will accomplish both of these high-priority issues -- relief from high gas prices and ensuring critical transportation needs are met – without costing American taxpayers one dime.

The way we can do this is simple. We’ll do it by addressing another issue high on the list of the American people’s concerns: Congress’ pork barrel spending.

If Congress would give up its addiction to earmarks for just one year, this would save $14.8 billion – no small sum. This would be more than enough money to provide motorists a little relief at the pump this summer, hold the trust fund harmless, and still have enough left over to shore up the trust fund in 2009.

Paul Ryan (WI)
Ranking Member
Committee on the Budget
US House of Representatives

Comments

[Gary Toth]

Hello Congressman: I think that it is great that you have the best interests of the American public in mind. Keeping gas prices low would appear to serve our short term interests.

However, there are those who point to the fact that cheap energy prices have and will continue to cause major long term problems for America. Since gas has always been cheap for us, we have develop our nation in ways that make us ever more dependent on gas staying cheap. We have been burning fuel like it is water, which has been releasing carbon into the atmosphere at rates which threaten our planet. High gas consumption threatens our energy security. Cheap gas have enabled communities to spread out which has led to auto dependency, dramatic reductions in walking, and therefore contributed to what our CDC call the obesity epidemic. I could on and on about the problems created by a nation which has been spoiled by cheap fuel.

After you give us some short term relief, wouldn't it be wise to look to the example of the other nations of the world, who deploy gas taxes measured in dollars instead of cents, and then use those tax revenues to help prepare their citizens for long term sustainability. Short term easy fixes are addictive. It is not much different than wolfing down a donut to give us a sugar rush when we are sluggish and hungry. But like quick doses of sugar, cheap fuel now will leave us worse next year, and our long term problems will be even harder to fix. Are we really comfortable with looking our children in the eye and telling them sorry kids, we left us with a congested, sprawling mess, with your country ill prepared to compete with Brazil, China, India and Europe, because we wanted to save 20 cents a gallon in 2008?

Does your plan have any provisions for the long term health and security of our way of life?

Gary

[Steven]

Rep. Ryan:

Instead of suspending the gas tax, you should be evaluating ways to increase the tax by at least $0.20 / gallon to keep up with the increasing cost of labor, materials and environmental reviews and remediation with every project. Americans need someone with a spine to stand up and say "If you continue this lifestyle your children and grandchildren will have nothing to show for it." That's what my grandparents did, and it allowed this country to succeed. Unfortunately, this gas tax suspension plan is more of the attitude that has created much of our debt problems in the first place.

Do the right thing and suspend your thoughts on suspending the gas tax. The gas tax is a fairly accurate "user fee" on our roads. If you can't afford gas, you shouldn't be driving - no different than if you can't afford insurance or registration fees. Driving is a PRIVILEGE not a right.

[Nick C]

I'd rather have the $14.8 billion in earmarks than the $20 the gas tax suspension's going to get me.

[Dukestory]

I respect what Paul has to say but I continue to be confused at the lack of intellect Congress as a whole is demonstrating on the issue of Gas and energy policy. The quickest solution to the current price of oil problem is to get serious about the resources we have in Alaska and off the coast of our great country. Open the doors to off shore drilling and allow the states the rights to grab a cut of the revenues generated from the oil found off their coast and I believe we will have the buffer we need to keep oil prices at a reasonable level while alternative fuels are created. Coal, Nuclear will have to be developed before electricity can drive our automotive industry. Look at this weeks WSJ article about the concerns of power companies and the drain electric cars will put on the system.

[Will]

No thanks, Representative Ryan. Anyone who understands basic economics can see removing the gas tax will just increase demand, thereby increasing the prices to just what they were before the gas tax.

[michael]

Why not instead of eliminating the gas-tax you raise it, and invest that money into mass transportation and thereby reducing our dependency on oil instead of only postponing the problem for a little longer. Just a thought.

[Debanjan Ghosh]

I think this a very good idea. This will help my family a lot. i am really struggling to make the ends meet right now ... thanks a lot

[person]

How about we ditch earmarks and *keep* the gas tax?

[Jody]

I agree with most here, ditch the earmarks, put that towards paying down American debt. Keep the gas tax and consider increasing it to pay for mass transit, we need light rail transportation between the suburbs we live in and the cities we work in.

[Alexander Levy]

A bigger house is just more house to maintain.

This is not a plea on behalf of earmarks, but many so-called "pork barrel" transportation projects can and do stand on their-own merits.

Only earmarks are a sure-fire way of providing a congresionally-mandated portion of available funds for these as priority projects. However obscure.

Politically, they have the bozo-button effect of allowing elected representatives to Congress a claim of credit for "delivering the goods".

In other words, what to one representative is pork, to another representative is a promise to their constituency.

End ear marks, fine, but it's a fools errand to suggest that the savings realized will somehow make my contribution at the gas pump any less painful, especially when I leave the gas station and have to drive on congested roads, clogged because there's no money to spend on alternatives and little left to maintain what we've built.

For all it's glory, the United States of America is naive when it comes to caring for our house.

Like many a McMansion, we've built a house (of roadway infrastructure) that is probably more than we really ever needed and far more expensive to sustain than we had ever intended.

Yes, we need relief at the gas pump, but not from taxation used to build and maintain our critical roadways. What we need is relief from our reliance on the gas pump, altogether, by replacing fossil fuels with American ingenuity and a reminder that only in being united behind this value will we continue to stand in the face of adversarial market forces.

[David S.]

Being able to have this open conversation is wonderful, but I'm against increasing the subsidy on gasoline. How about investing the money on a start towards efficient railways, even just for freight? Imagine where the U.S. would be now if someone stood up in the 1970's and attempted to keep pace with Europe and Asia when it comes to trains?

Now is a perfect time to think long term, and to be "a good ancestor".

[Mike B]

I am neither for or against suspending the Federal Gas Tax.

With the current tax at 18.4-cent per gallon, suspending the tax would save $2.75 on 15 gallons of gas. It would do little to reduce the current $3.75/gallon cost of gas. Can you do something to bring the price back down to $2.25/gallon?

As the price of gas goes up, the percent going towards the tax decreases. In a way, it is like the gas is actually cheaper.

If you or someone is able to completely fund the needed road projects without this tax, then fine, cut the tax. In my opinion, when local departments of transportation delay repairs to the roads, the cost of the repairs only rise as the problems are allowed to get worse. Before you know it, bridges will be falling down and tunnels collapsing. Our roads are the single most important part of our lives. Without roads, we cannot go to work, stores cannot get new merchandise, emergency workers cannot get to the people who need help, and many more things. Please protect the funding that goes towards our roads. If you do anything, double the spending. Help cities build new public transportation systems, find ways to reduce congestion and gridlock. Anything that helps move people from place to place smoothly will reduce our dependence on foreign oil.