President Joe Biden told Members of Congress on Monday that he is open to raising the federal gas tax as a way to fund his $2.25 trillion spending package, a clear violation of Biden’s pledge against any tax increase on anyone making less than $400,000.
According to Bloomberg News, Biden told members of Congress that he is open to a 5 cent per gallon increase on the federal gasoline tax, more than a 27 percent increase on the current gas tax.
The Eno Center for Transportation estimates that a 5 cent per gallon gas tax hike would raise taxes by more than $87 billion over a 10-year window, with federal revenues increasing by $9.1 billion in year one.
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris pledged at least 56 times that no American making less than $400,000 would see a penny of their taxes increased.
“I pay for every single thing I’m proposing without raising your taxes one penny. If you make less than 400 grand, you’re not going to get a penny taxed,” Biden told a Wisconsin crowd last September.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg went on record in February, unequivocally stating that raising the gas tax would violate Biden’s $400,000 tax pledge.
“The President’s made a commitment that this administration will not raise taxes on people making less than $400,000 a year,” Buttigieg said during a Friday appearance on Bloomberg Radio’s “Sound On” show. “And so that rules out approaches like the old fashioned gas tax.”
Biden’s proposal to raise the gas tax would not only be a clear violation of his promise but would disproportionately place the burden of the tax increase on lower-income Americans who pay a larger portion of their income on gasoline. The same would be true for households in rural and suburban areas who on average drive further distances to commute to work and purchase more gasoline than households in urban areas.