Making American roads great again costs a lot of money
During a bipartisan meeting at the White House, on Wednesday, US president Donald Trump suggested that a 25-cent increase in gas and diesel tax would be needed in order to cover the administration’s new infrastructure plan.
Democratic Sen. Tom Carper (who was present at the meeting) told CNN that “he [Trump] said he knew it was a difficult thing for legislators to support and said that he would support the leadership to do that and provide the political cover to do that.”
In a press conference at the White House on Tuesday, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao described the gas tax “not ideal” but did not rule it out. "There are pros and cons. The gas tax has an adverse impact, a very regressive impact, on the most vulnerable within our society; those who depend on jobs, who are hourly workers. So these are tough decisions, which is why, once again, we need to start the dialogue with the Congress, and so that we can address these issues on this very important point,” she stated.
The long-awaited infrastructure plan was revealed on Monday, focusing on a simple task: to raise $1.5 trillion for fixing America’s infrastructure. However, only $200 billion of that would be federal spending, the rest of it is supposed to come from private investment and local and state tax dollars.
"For too long, lawmakers have invested in infrastructure inefficiently, ignored critical needs, and allowed it to deteriorate. As a result, the United States has fallen further and further behind other countries," Trump said. "It is time to give Americans the working, modern infrastructure they deserve."
via CNN / image link: ncconsumer