Feds may raise gas taxes before Washington state can

By Jeff Rhodes | Freedom Foundation

Looks like the federal government might just beat Washington to it.

The state’s divided Legislature has been debating various transportation plan alternatives for the past two sessions, with Democrats preferring a $10 billion package that includes lots of money for bike paths, mass transit and light rail, andRepublicans favoring a $12 billion plan that devotes more to actual road construction and infrastructure maintenance while also requiring a number of systemic reforms to the way the state bids and builds its mega-projects.

The funding source for both is an increase in gasoline taxes of from 10.5 cents to 11.5 cents, depending on whose version is adopted.

Now comes word a pair of U.S. senators — a Democrat from Connecticut and a Republican from Tennessee — have collaborated on a bipartisan bill that would raise federal gas taxes by 12 cents a gallon over two years to fund highway and transit programs.

at Freedom Foundation.