In a full-page ad in Thursday’s Washington Times, the Transportation Construction Coalition is saying what amounts to "Ronald Reagan raised the gas tax. So what’s your problem, House Republicans?
"Ronald Reagan Loved Cutting Taxes, But He Raised the Highway User Fee to Strengthen the American Economy," the coalition proclaimed.
Noting a big congressional debate over a gasoline tax increase back in 1982, the ad quotes the Gipper as saying, "The cost to the average motorist will be small, but the benefit to our transportation system will be immense." Ergo, say the road pavers, "If it was right for Reagan, it’s right for us."
They then go on to an argument that a gasoline tax is not really a tax:
"Ronald Reagan proved tax cuts can spur our economy. But he also knew investment in our infrastructure is essential."
The logic in that comment comes down to this: When I don’t like a tax, it’s a tax. But when I like a tax - poof! The word disappears as if by magic. Now it’s an "investment."
Obviously, Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, R-Colo., who is leading the fight against hitting America’s families with this extra burden, believes a gasoline tax is, well, a tax.
Musgrave spokesman Guy Short says, "Ronald Reagan was the greatest president in our lifetime, but taxes and revenues at that time were much different than they are today."
Although Musgrave doesn’t address it, her "That was then, this is now" comment may be related to indications, reported previously by NewsMax.com, that Democrats, while viewing this internal GOP warfare largely from the sidelines, are licking their chops at the prospect of belting the Republicans for sticking the middle class with a tax boost.
Moreover, Short recalls that during the gas tax debate of the early eighties, then Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., led a filibuster against the increase. Ultimately the increase passed despite his efforts.
The ad does not mention another president who successfully pushed for raising gas taxes: Bill Clinton. He paid the price when the GOP won control of Congress.
The ad in the Washington Times, read by many conservatives in the D.C. area and elsewhere, says, "It's OK to be conservative and support an increase in the highway user fee."
The previous day, the Times itself had editorialized, "[W]e do not think the causal relationship between higher prices and higher taxes and job growth pans out, and the economic history of our country has shown that an economic boost would be greater if the funds were left in the private sector."
In a NewsMax.com interview, Musgrave spokesman Short denies the implication coming from the office of the chief advocate of the gas tax hike, House Transportation Chairman Don Young, that Musgrave and her more than two dozen Republican allies are opposed to building roads.
The congresswoman says, in fact there is no contradiction between her opposition to hiking gas taxes and wanting roads built in her district. In fact she points out that Chairman Young’s Alaska gets $6.60 back for every dollar it pays in gasoline taxes, or more than a 6 and a half-fold benefit. Her own Colorado, on the other hand is a net loser at only 93 cents for every gasoline tax dollar. Her state, she notes, would be ahead if all of its gas tax money remained at home and spent internally for Colorado roads.
The tongue-lashing Young gave Musgrave on the House floor Monday continues to be a subject of some discussion in Washington.
At Wednesday’s news conference, she described how Young was on a step above her and used language and gestures unlike that of her husband, or any other man in her experience as a legislator.
That prompted Rep. Roscoe Barlett, R.-Md., to remark that Young had been a trapper in Alaska, and understandably had some "rough edges." The Marylander, one of the signatories to Musgrave’s letter urging House Speaker Dennis Hastert to join them and the Bush White House in opposition to the gas tax boost, said he loved both Musgrave and Young, explaining, "They have different styles of communication."
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