Washington Stalled in No-Tax Lane

About the nation’s transit infrastructures, the Bush Administration has concluded, with remarkable understatement, that “the system is beginning to break down.” No surprise to almost any motorist--don’t even bother talking to harried California rush-hour commuters or motorists who must navigate mazes of detours because crumbling bridges and overpasses are in danger of collapse.

Unfortunately, the President’s transportation program fails to take the sort of imaginative leap into the future that the Eisenhower Administration did in the 1950s with the brilliant interstate highway system. Rather, the plan seems to be mostly less of the same, with an ever-smaller federal role, largely because the Administration refuses to consider any increase in taxes. The Bush solution? Push more of the costs onto state and local governments. What a solution.

Transportation Secretary Samuel K. Skinner, noting that 33 states have raised gas taxes, said: “If the states are willing to do it . . . why should we preempt them?” This is a frivolous abdication of Washington’s role in transportation--originally established in the early 1800s, when Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun sponsored federal construction of the National Road. The states have had to assume more of the burden precisely because Washington has been crying poverty.

California is trying to work itself out of the transportation-funding fix with Proposition 111 on the June ballot. Over time it would double the 9-cent-a-gallon state fuel tax. The money mostly would build projects that have been postponed during the past decade for lack of funds. More federal cuts will just mean more postponements.

While recognizing California’s effort, Skinner also lectured the state for its resistance to higher taxes. Skinner says he was startled to discover how cheap gasoline is here: Californians, more than anyone, need to accept higher taxes if they want to have efficient transportation, clean air and eliminate congestion, Skinner said. That is a remarkable, even presumptuous, lecture from an Administration that has one single passion--NO NEW TAXES--and that now, as a result, is retreating from a traditional federal responsibility.