3. Infrastructure Policy
- Cut gasoline tax from 18.4 cents per gallon to 3.7 cents per gallon
- Shift highway planning and maintenance authority from federal to state governments
Here's where Mike Lee starts getting off the rails a bit. I cannot fathom why, at a time when a substantial portion of our roads and bridges are in barely operable condition, he thinks cutting the gasoline tax to a fraction of its previous amount is a good idea.
The old federalist argument, which has a little thing called the Constitution backing it up, is here being replaced by a shakier, misguided belief that state level governments are somehow inherently better and more efficient at doing things than the federal government. Mike Lee claims this is a money-saver; never mind that he's essentially suggesting that we finance our infrastructure with relatively high interest bond issues by state governments rather than let the federal government, which can borrow money for next to nothing, fund it.
Texas's state level gas tax has not been increased once in more than 20 years. And Rick Perry, who is generally wary of such things, encouraged the Legislature to approve new debt issues to finance road projects during this year's session. Why would he do this? Because he knows that the Tea Party-dominated Legislature will not raise taxes on anything ever for any reason. Texas is not alone in this regard.
The fact of the matter is that state DOTs are the single most regressive force in transportation policy today. Their resonsibilities should be slashed, and given to cities, metro areas, and/or the federal government.
Increasing their power is, if anything, even
more backwards than the gas tax cut insanity.
