Source: New York Times
The Tax When You Fill Up the CarThe gas tax keeps our roads and bridges from falling down and maintains America’s competitiveness. Former Gov. Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania, David M. Walker, former United States comptroller general, and I have recently proposed a variation of the gas tax to finance our critical infrastructure that includes both a consumer tax and an industry tax.
We suggest the enactment of an oil security tax, a fixed percentage based on the price of a barrel of oil and paid by oil companies for every barrel produced in or imported into the United States.
The consumer gas tax would increase when oil prices fall and consumers get relief at the pump, and the tax would be reduced when oil prices rise. This “countercycle” plan will raise the money needed to build America’s future while spreading the cost more equitably across both fuel producers and fuel consumers.
Since oil companies benefit from our transportation system, which consumes 70 percent of oil products, this is both reasonable and fair. Simply letting America’s vital infrastructure decay is not.