President Donald Trump's tariffs could endanger a Republican proposal to generate more revenue to offset the elimination of the federal gasoline tax.
The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee has proposed a $20 annual fee on most passenger cars as part of the GOP budget bill, which lawmakers say would allow the federal gasoline tax to be phased out, but hardline conservative Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) was outraged.
“Like, are you out of your fricking mind?” Roy said. “Like, the party of limited government is gonna go out and, say 'we’re gonna have [a car tax]?’”
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Lawmakers say the fee is necessary with the growing popularity of electric vehicles, and former GOP congressman Charlie Dent agreed.
"I think chairman Sam Graves is onto something," Dent told "CNN This Morning." "If you buy an electric vehicle, you get a tax credit to do so, but the poor guy who's got a used car that's an internal combustion engine, he gets to pay for the roads not only for himself, but for the guy driving the EV. So I think there's a fairness question here. Sam Graves, chairman of the [Transportation] Committee, is right to have this conversation. We are getting less revenue per vehicle mile driven because of efficiency and the EVs, so the government needs to have the conversation."
The federal gasoline tax has not been raised since 1993, but Dent said the president's trade war represented an even greater hit to Americans' pocketbook than the proposed car fee.
"We're quibbling over a fee for cars when there's a massive tax increase called tariffs," Dent said. "I mean, that's what the tariffs are going to make this issue harder for Republicans. Tariffs are a massive tax increase on consumers. I mean, that's going to be much a bigger hit to people than whether or not we're going to charge $20 or $200 for the electric vehicle."
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