(H/T: The Hill via Instapundit) – reformatted, emphasis mine:
A gas tax hike is dead on arrival in Congress, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said Tuesday. Transportation advocates have pushed to increase or index to inflation the 18.4-cents-per-gallon federal gas tax as lawmakers scramble to come up with a way to pay for an extension of an infrastructure funding measure that is scheduled to expire on May 31. McCarthy said Tuesday that lawmakers are not willing to ask drivers to pay more at the pump to finance new transportation projects. “I think passing a gas tax is politically impossible,” he said, pointing out that he just paid $3.20 a gallon to fill up his car in his hometown of Bakersfield, Calif.
The gas tax has been the traditional source of transportation funding since its inception in the 1930s. The tax has not been increased since 1993, however, and improvements in auto fuel efficiency have sapped its purchasing power. The federal government typical spends about $50 billion per year on transportation projects, but the gas tax only brings in approximately $34 billion annually at its current rate.
Well, our willingness to pay more in taxes has certainly been sapped. Tell you what, boys – you start






