Federal Highways and the Federal Employees
The federal gasoline tax is 18.4 cents per gallon for gas and 22.4 cents per gallon for diesel. This tax does not include the other taxes by the states and local communities.
This federal tax is not generating the $260 billion GOP needs for a proposed highway construction and transit program! The cars are more efficient and people are not buying more gas.
The GOP has a solution. They want to get the money from the federal employees. How? They suggest the federal employees should contribute 1.5 percent more of their monthly income for their retirement.
At present the retirement benefit is calculated based on the average salary of the last five years of the service. The GOP has proposed to base the retirement benefit for the new employees based on the average salary of the last three years of the service. These changes would reduce the federal contribution to the retired employees’ benefit by about $4 billion a year. The GOP proposal would take money from the retired federal employees to build highways. That is interesting!
Any increase in the gasoline-diesel fuel tax from 18.4 cents to 20 cents and 22.4 cents to 25.0 cents or more would affect the poor population much more than the other Americans.
There are many better ways to raise the federal revenue than slamming the hardworking federal employees. One proposal could be to make sections of some of the interstate highways into toll ways. Use the generated money for maintenance and expansion of the transportation system. A reasonable toll only would be paid by only those who would use the interstate highways.
How about increasing the capital gains tax by 5%? No! Republicans would not like that at all. They would argue that increasing the capital gains tax would hurt the job creating rich people. Do you believe that? The job killing proposal would demand reducing the federal government employees. How about cutting the staff of the Departments of Education, EPA and OSHA? The GOP leaders have done that before, haven’t they?
This federal tax is not generating the $260 billion GOP needs for a proposed highway construction and transit program! The cars are more efficient and people are not buying more gas.
The GOP has a solution. They want to get the money from the federal employees. How? They suggest the federal employees should contribute 1.5 percent more of their monthly income for their retirement.
At present the retirement benefit is calculated based on the average salary of the last five years of the service. The GOP has proposed to base the retirement benefit for the new employees based on the average salary of the last three years of the service. These changes would reduce the federal contribution to the retired employees’ benefit by about $4 billion a year. The GOP proposal would take money from the retired federal employees to build highways. That is interesting!
Any increase in the gasoline-diesel fuel tax from 18.4 cents to 20 cents and 22.4 cents to 25.0 cents or more would affect the poor population much more than the other Americans.
There are many better ways to raise the federal revenue than slamming the hardworking federal employees. One proposal could be to make sections of some of the interstate highways into toll ways. Use the generated money for maintenance and expansion of the transportation system. A reasonable toll only would be paid by only those who would use the interstate highways.
How about increasing the capital gains tax by 5%? No! Republicans would not like that at all. They would argue that increasing the capital gains tax would hurt the job creating rich people. Do you believe that? The job killing proposal would demand reducing the federal government employees. How about cutting the staff of the Departments of Education, EPA and OSHA? The GOP leaders have done that before, haven’t they?
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