East Bay Express: It’s Time to Raise the State Gas Tax

Historically, gas taxes have been too low in the United States — certainly not high enough to sufficiently fund our infrastructure and transportation needs. That’s why many economists and nonpartisan think tanks, including the Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy, which tracks tax policies nationwide, support higher gas taxes to pay for road projects. Gas taxes are user fees: If motorists want better highways to drive on, then it makes sense that they — not folks who walk, bike, or take mass transit to work — should pay to fix them . “That’s a specific advantage that gas taxes have,” Carl Davis of the Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy told the Express in an interview for a previous report.

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