Congress to Raise Gas Taxes?

With gasoline at record prices and both parties in Congress barking at each other as to how to reduce the cost to consumers, what do you think Congress is doing in private? Looking for ways to cut prices, or looking to raise gas taxes? What do you think...

WASHINGTON — The political vision of a summer gas tax holiday died a quick death in Congress, losing to a view that federal excise taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel — far from dropping — will have to go up if they go anywhere.

Despite calls from the presidential campaign trail for a Memorial Day-to-Labor Day tax freeze, lawmakers quickly concluded — with a prod from the construction industry — that having $9 billion less to spend on highways could create a pre-election specter of thousands of lost jobs.

Now, lawmakers quietly are talking about raising fuel taxes by a dime from the current 18.4 cents a gallon on gasoline and 24.3 cents on diesel fuel.

The fuel taxes go into the Highway Trust Fund, which is used for road construction and repair and mass transit. Depriving the 52-year-old Highway Trust Fund of $9 billion at a time when it is heading into the red doomed the notion of a gas tax holiday in Congress.

At the same time some congressmen are promting the idea of decreasing the national speed limit to 55 mph which would in theory reduce gasoline consumption and therefore reduce gas tax income.

Do these people have any idea what they're doing?