While Democrats have never been enthusiastic champions of the user-pays principle, they never quashed it when they could have. (GM ads now feature Malcolm Gladwell cheering on the new era.) Could, or should, a vehicle mileage tax be part of a bipartisan deal? This way you can start to capture revenue from all those electric vehicles that are on the road-a number that will soar now that all the automakers are turning electric like Bob Dylan in 1965.
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Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, “extending user fees to owners of electric vehicles.” Presumably, this would involve a “vehicle mileage tax,” for which drivers of all cars would pay based on the distance they drive. The Republican response to this shortfall is to shore up the user-pays principle with, in the words of lead Republican negotiator Sen. Washington must dip into the general fund to keep that exit ramp from crumbling These days the gas tax doesn’t even keep the trust fund solvent. The gas tax is not pegged to inflation, captures less revenue from hybrid cars, and doesn’t capture any revenue from electric cars. However, neglect has partially eroded the user-pays principle since 2008. The fund relied on revenue from taxes on fuel, trucks, buses, and tires. The Highway Trust Fund-created in 1956 to provide stable financing for the new national highway system, then later expanded to cover different transportation projects-was established on the user-pays principle. The Republican position is tied to precedent.
The question for Biden and the Democrats is: Should they bend on their wealthy-pays-more principle to get an activist government? The two principles do not have overlap, though a compromise could involve elements from each view, with some revenue from user fees and some revenue from higher corporate taxes.
Democrats have effectively insisted on a progressive “wealthy-pays-more” principle, no different than their view of how government in general should be funded. The more you use the infrastructure, the more you should pay. Republicans have argued infrastructure funding should be based on a “user-pays” principle.
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So, what’s the hold up? How to pay the cost. The two parties are not debating whether the government should play a major role when building traditional infrastructure. While Democrats would like to spend more and include items not typically considered infrastructure, Biden and his congressional allies have no complaint about spending hundreds of billions on traditional infrastructure. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has already said he’s willing to support upwards of $800 billion in physical infrastructure. “I want to get a bipartisan deal… that means roads, bridges, broadband, all infrastructure.” Regarding what they can’t agree on-which presumably would include less traditional forms of infrastructure-Biden said he’s prepared to “fight over what’s left and see if I can get it done without Republicans, if need be.” On MSNBC Wednesday night, after discussing infrastructure with Republican congressional leaders earlier in the day, President Joe Biden shared his legislative strategy.
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