Lawmakers consider federal increase in gas tax

Gas prices over $4 per gallon are displayed at a Chevron gas station in California in the summer of 2011. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) says there’s a dilemma when it comes to investing in the nation’s transportation infrastructure.

Durbin was a member of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, commonly known as the Simpson-Bowles Commission, whose purpose was to find ways to reduce the federal budget deficit.

While he doesn’t agree with every element of the commission’s report, he’s willing to go for the whole package.

But he notes the dilemma presented by an opportunity to spend on transportation needs vs. an increase in the federal gas tax of 15 cents a gallon, which the commission suggested as a way to pay for it.

“We know we need better and bigger infrastructure, we know that it takes a capital investment, but the revenue needed for it is tough to take out of the economy in the midst of a recession,” he said.

Durbin says he’s still ambivalent on the issue, knowing that we need the transportation investment and the jobs, but that hiking the price of gas hurts the economy in a variety of other ways, particularly consumer spending.

The federal gas tax is now 18.4 cents per gallon, but the amount being collected has declined as vehicles are thriftier on fuel use, and miles driven are down due to the slow economy and the high price of fuel.