No silver bullet to paying for infrastructure: US Chamber of Commerce VP
U.S. Chamber of Commerce Vice President Neil Bradley told FOX Business Friday he doesn't think the Trump administration should look at using corporate tax cuts as a way to fund U.S. infrastructure.
"There is no silver bullet to paying for infrastructure. We think the opportunity is for President Trump and Congress to do what Ronald Reagan and Tipp O'Neill did nearly 40 years ago, which is come together on the common sense, user-fee based model and adjust the gas tax," Bradley told Neil Cavuto on "Cavuto: Coast-to-Coast."
Bradley added he believes support for a hike in the gas tax has more Democratic support than the media has reported, citing a bipartisan coalition the Chamber of Commerce has outside of Congress.
"Business groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and labor unions like AFL-CIO are actually in agreement that it is now time to raise the gas tax, and we are also in agreement that we need to stay away from 'poison pills' like reopening the tax reform bill," Bradley said.
Thirty-five state legislatures have already hiked gasoline taxes in their respective states to fund their portion of infrastructure. The average state excise gas tax currently stands at 23.12 cents per gallon
President Trump and Democratic lawmakers are planning to meet again in three weeks to discuss infrastructure funding after agreeing this week on a $2 trillion infrastructure package. In 2017, the U.S. spent about $440 billion on infrastructure.
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Speaker Pelosi stressed in the meeting with the President that broadband and the power grid need to be addressed.
Currently, about 9 percent of the bridges in the U.S. are structurally deficient. About one in five miles of highway in the U.S. are also in poor condition.