(Washington, D.C.) — Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today named House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Don Young (R-Alaska) its June 2003 Porker of the Month for proposing a massive hike in the federal gas tax to pay for a six-year $375 billion highway funding plan, the largest surface and public transportation commitment in American history.

With the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (known as TEA-21) set to expire in September, Chairman Young has floated a tax-guzzling reauthorization proposal seeking a 70 percent increase over the 1998 legislation, which provided $218 billion over six years for highways and transit funding.  To cover the costs, Young wants to hike up the federal gas tax, which now stands at 18.4 cents a gallon, to more than 33 cents by 2009.

The most disturbing aspect of Young’s proposal is that it would automate the process of increasing the tax by indexing the federal motor fuels taxes for inflation, both retroactively to 1993 and prospectively.  By indexing the level of the gas tax to inflation, the tax would be set on cruise control, triggering an automatic increase as the rate of inflation rises without a single vote in the Congress. 

Chairman Young should be exploring alternatives to fund the most critical road repairs and construction needs and not first seek to pump taxpayer wallets for cash.  He could start by eliminating pork-barrel transportation projects.  TEA-21 had a total of 1,850 earmarks, which included funds to construct a bicycle path in Oregon, repairs to a wooden bridge in Virginia, and an elevated walkway in Chicago, among others.  Stopping the diversion of highway funds to mass transit, pedestrian uses and bike paths would free up needed dollars to maintain the highway system and would reduce the overall cost of the bill.  Hiking up the gas tax is just plain unnecessary.  In fact, the last gas tax increase of 4.3 cents, enacted back in 1993, didn’t even go to the highway system: it was earmarked to reduce the budget deficit. 

For his plain old highway robbery of taxpayers, CAGW names Rep. Don Young June Porker of the Month.

Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, mismanagement and abuse in government.