I'd vote yes. I really don't see why inflation is an appropriate measure for the gas tax. This just seems like a way to continually increase taxes without having to vote on it, and it means people have to spend more on gas at the same time as they have to spend more on other goods.
No, inflation adjustment is sensible.
Most tax revenue increases without voter approval. That happens because the taxes are most often based on a percent of the value of the item taxed. That's true for income, property and sales taxes. Since the value/cost of those items tends to rise with inflation, the tax revenue is automatically indexed.
Motor fuels are usually taxed on the volume of fuel, not the value. So if there were no change in vehicle efficiency, one would expect growth in revenue at about the same level as population growth, which is less than inflation. The cost of road building increases with inflation (primarily energy and labor costs) and where as CPI is not necessarily a good index, most people wouldn't want to tie it to a direct sales tax which would better match the changing cost of road construction.
The bigger problem in the future for transportation infrastructure is the changing efficiency of the vehicles. Taxing gasoline provided a reasonable connection to the miles driven and hence the need for road maintenance, so the tax went to the user. As alternative fuel vehicles become more widespread that connection is severed, and new methods will be needed to establish a tax that is commensurate with the amount of use of the transportation system.
Poll
