Market May Drive MPG Goals - Trump Argues 25 Cent Gas Tax To Fund Infrastructure

The tax break that he just gave the wealthy could have funded infrastructure .

Tax break was pretty much for everyone, check your pay stub

This actually may work. The infrastructure is a mess and under funded...this could bring that into line... The increased costs forces consumers to consider their choices in the market and what was once a SUV purchase could be an midsized hybrid.

No need to enforce EPA CAFE standards at great expense because the gas prices will do the hard work in moving the consumer in the right direction..

Actually the tax break Trump just pushed through - favors the rich - and gives 83% of the tax breaks to the top 1% of Taxpayers - if you check YOUR middle class paycheck - you might see a few extra dimes - and as we know - gas prices have risen 20% since Trump became president to wipe that out. ( Since I am in the top 1% - I am not complaining - though) ANd if you live in the Northeast or California - you can no longer deduct all of your Property and State/Local income tax from your earnings - so you are paying tax on tax too. My withholding went up.

However - again - straight percentage taxes are a major burden on the poor and middle class - for who it represents a much larger proportion of their income. SInce they likely do not have the money to live in the rich Downtown neighborhoods - they are also likely to have a longer commute to work.

And WHY should rich people be allowed to PAY themselves around lower emissions and higher gas mileage - just another example of the alt-right looking to bring back an ELITE that owns everything.

Agent009 needs to stick to car articles or take an econ class... smh

The tax break was a $1.5 Trillion dollar log thrown onto the national debt of the USA. No big deal. Just raise the debt ceiling once again and 3 cheers for the GOP. So much for being deficit hawks who hated any spending or debt financing.

Why do normal Americans fight for the wealthy? I never understood the need for average Americans to make sure that the wealthy can make every cent possible. Is it that "it could be you" mind trick?

Now watch MDarringer use all of his sock puppet names to downrate everybody who says anything critical of his hero, Trump.Oh wait, he's already done that. Poor little "snowflake"

Poor pentupidiot! You assume I care about the wah-wah sound of the hateful Alt-Lefters like you. As I've said numerous times, the mere fact that step-ons like you think your opinion matters to me is hilarious. Because you think I would take time away from making six figures to gin up multiple nicknames here to focus on voting you down, just shows your paranoia. Seek help, because my side aches from laughter.

Just a friendly reminder to readers that nobody self-identifies as "Alt Left." The only people who use that expression are Alt.Right-ers (Nazis, White Supremacists, anti-Semites, haters of LGBTQ people, misogenists, racists, etc.) like @MDarringer. It means "Not an Alt.Right-er".

The Alt.Right-ers (like @MDarringer and Friends) also cry "hater" when you point at a Nazi and call him a bad guy. Boo hoo for sad Nazis (that's sarcasm, by the way).

Alt.Right: The folks who bring you the Carolina Nazis, InfoWars, Breitbart, The Church of Trump... and hate for anyone who isn't Alt.Right :-/

@TheSteve, no one self-identifies as Alt-Right either, but you use the term freely to put down other of whom you are intolerant, but you lose your mind when someone does that to you. That would make you a hypocrite.

MDarringer alleged “…no one self-identifies as Alt-Right either…”

You know that’s not true, Matty :-) One of your buddies here even reported he was Alt.Right (he literally wrote that!) and he defended his position.

So once again, MDarringer (Alt.Right-er) uses the all-too-predictable Alt.Right tactics of: Denial, deflection, and derision. (Sigh)

This is a fair tax...gas tax to pay for roads. The more you use the roads the more tax you will pay. They will have to come up with a way to tax EVs as well.

As a whole, the US is undertaxed and taxed in the wrong direction. Property tax on a similar sized home when comparing a Toronto suburb vs a Boston suburb is 4X higher. This what happens when you don't have a tax on fuel, sin taxes (booze, beer + smokes) and far too low levels of income taxes on the wealthy and corporations. A national sales tax would also help fun infrastructure and healthcare for all. But that is just crazy talk... :)

Having lived in Germany and Czech Republic, I would say overall taxes paid including social security Medicare etc... is about the same. You just get a lot more for your taxes over there. No real deductions except for a house. My FICA went up $167 so not thrilled about the big middle class tax cut yet. Seemed very reckless in any case.

@CANADIANCOMMENTS & @valhallakey: You two are obviously not attendees at The Church of Trump.

Tax break was pretty much for everyone, check your pay stub
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Thanks. I own my own business. I got #@&%ed.

Of course you own your own business. Would you own somebody's else business?

lol..

That tax break gave some people temporary pennies but gave the wealthy permanent commas.

I own several businesses and I am quite happy.

.25 cents tax? SUV and trucks owners will love that.
If the gov is asking for .25, they will finally accept .10 which is reasonable to improve the roads, bridges and drag strips.

The tax break was a $1.5 Trillion dollar log thrown onto the national debt of the USA. No big deal. Just raise the debt ceiling once again and 3 cheers for the GOP. So much for being deficit hawks who hated any spending or debt financing.

lol.. I have a non-profit giving scholarships to high school kids and students working on their undergraduate degree. I work hard to take advantage of tax loop holes and I am able to give back... I can afford to. The one for your two for me thing is crazy and I don't believe in it. As a kids that come up with nothing to someone to travels the world and do what I want, I know there is a better way. Stop being greedy.

My wife and I are not wealthy and are netting an extra $550 a month with the GOP tax reform. While the left may view it as "crumbs" its substantial for the middle class. Those arguing that the wealthy get the most benefit...that is because they are also the ones paying the most. At the end of the day we still have a progressive rate structure with the wealthy paying the highest rates. Moreover, cuts to corporate taxes have yieldes many bonuses for non wealthy and many companies to raise their own min wage. There is a reason the GOP has cut a 17 point dem lead for midterms down to nothing.

You are getting temporary crumbs while the wealthy are getting permanent commas. And no corporation is going to raise the minimum wage out of the kindness of their hearts. lol!! Trickle down never worked. It only works for the wealthy. The wealthy knows that if they give you crumbs, you will not say anything about the commas that they are taking in. How long are Americans going to allow themselves to get played by the wealthy?

I bet you were happy when main st bailed out the financial sector and they have bonuses out. You should be in that same econ class with Agent009. My house hold got a nice bump in pay as well. We didn't need it. I would have been happy with that money going to infrastructure and our public schools. We are constantly talking about how great we are but we are far behind on all kinds of things including education.

It is amazing how many cannot do the math to figure out their taxes or reductions in this case, rather listen to their favorite political bias.

I'm surprised to see Trump proposing a tax increase. This is one case that actually makes sense to me. The greater the gas tax, the quicker people will move away from it.

They will just put on their Antifa masks and burn something.

How about a gigantic Federal Government spending cut instead?

It would be interesting to discuss the implications of the giant tax cut in the middle of nice steady economic growth we have had over the last 6 or 7 years (although job growth in 2017 was down compared to 2016, ~180k/m vs ~160k/mo). Throwing another 1+T a year in debt onto an already massive deficit is just irresponsible. It will likely result in major interest rate increases as we have to pump up our bonds to get people (China/Others) to buy even more of it, if they even will. Higher interest rates means harder to get money, equals eventually slower growth, fewer people buying big ticket items, devalued savings etc... Add all that to the deregulation of the financial markets, loosening capital requirements on the banks again etc... and we have a nice scenario for yet another market crash/recession/depression (which have all happened under Republican presidents by the way... you would think we would learn but not a lot of history buffs in the US now days). O was doing a decent, not great job, of bringing the annual deficit down from $1.2T or so when he started to about $500B when he left. This year it is expected to top $1T again. Congress will be raising the debt ceiling soon, by a lot. What is the net of all this? Slower car sales, less investment in interesting cars for the average person, potentially some US car makers going belly up again... maybe worse as we really have no reserves (full faith and credit as such) to dig ourselves out.

I don't understand why it is ok to tax the gas. We already pay for federal taxes. This is the money that should be used to fix the infrastructure.

If i follow this logic, why only raise $.25. Raise it by a whole lot more. We will see who will suffer. I think we all forgot what happened when the price of gas went up to $4 a gallon. Everything got expensive; transport, food and all goods. So that few pennies that you got in tax break, you will be paying way more than that some other ways.

No reputable economist think a giant tax cut toward the end of a growth economy cycle is a good idea. it would do a lot more at the end of a recession. That being said, the corporate tax rate had to be done and will have long range implications, not enough to offset to $1.5 trillion addition to the deficit.
That spineless Paul Ryan said no one can know if the economy will grow enough to offset the reduced funding of the government. Actually, there are ways to predict this, it is just that he does not want to admit it. All these republicans that cried "deficit" the last 8 years are now INTENTIONALLY adding $3.0 trillion to the deficit.