Streetsblog Capitol Hill

Our country needs a long term transportation bill that is funded. States cannot move forward with plans when they only have short term funding. I hope our elected officials have the courage to vote for the funding mechanism necessary. There are some things that are inherently the duty of government and providing a transportation infrastructure is one of those things - and it is appropriate and necessary to support the transportation bill through taxes on gas. I would support a funding plan to increased gas tax significantly for the next three years with alternate funding to be added as people drive less. Higher gas tax will also incentivize people to buy hybrid or alternative fuel cars (good for our environmental needs) and to use more transit (also part of our long term plan). Even if there are other taxes (like the proposed transaction tax on securities (a good idea) to fund transportation, those should be in addition to higher gas taxes. The higher gas taxes (I recommend 40 cents per gallon) will change the behavior of the driving public and that is needed for the push to transit and alternative fuel vehicles to succeed.