Gas tax, infrastructure funding to be topic of debate

A nonprofit organization called Intelligence Squared U.S. is hosting a debate on the topic “Raise the Federal Gas Tax to Fund Infrastructure” at the Kaufman Center in New York on Tuesday, Oct. 27. The debate also will be streamed live online.

“At the end of October, the Highway Trust Fund will run out of money,” states Intelligence Squared in a news release announcing the debate. The trust fund “provides funding for road, bridge, and mass transit projects across the country, but its revenue source, the federal gas tax, has not been raised in over two decades,” the group also states.

“Congress has relied on stopgap measures to keep it funded for years, causing uncertainty and delays in state projects. Should lawmakers raise the federal gas tax, or should we rethink federal government's role in infrastructure spending?” the debates organizers ask.

Debate panelists arguing for raising the gas tax will include the executive director of Colorado's Department of Transportation and the chief economist of the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA). Arguing against raising the tax are a former member of Congress’ National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission and a former Wall Street Journal board member who is currently with the Heritage Foundation.

The debate will stream live online at http://bit.ly/1NZUsPh and also air soon after as part of the syndicated public radio show and podcast called Intelligence Squared U.S.

Intelligence Squared U.S., which was founded in 2006, bills itself as a nonprofit organization designed to “restore civility, reasoned analysis and constructive public discourse to today’s often biased media landscape.