Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) says he urged President Barack Obama to consider raising taxes on fuel consumption to pay for national transportation projects.
“The fact is, we should be paying for the transportation bill by increasing the gas tax, which has not risen since 1993,” said the senior Senator in a statement released Wednesday. “The gas tax is a user fee. As President Ronald Reagan said in 1982, when the nation was facing record unemployment above 10 percent, ‘Good tax policy decrees that, wherever possible, a fee for a service should be assessed against those who directly benefit from that service.’”
Voinovich said Obama called him earlier this week to discuss a letter the retiring 74-year-old Republican sent to the President last week.