NFIB members oppose a gas tax hike, according to recent balloting.
When the White House floated a possible gas tax to pay for a $1 trillion infrastructure package, many small business owners pumped the brakes.
On Monday, President Trump said in an interview with Bloomberg that [a gas tax hike] is a policy measure “that I would certainly consider.” Trump’s infrastructure plan would pay for an overhaul of everything from airports to broadband access. The federal tax on gas, last raised in 1993, is 18.4 cents per gallon and 24.4 cents for diesel.
Later that day, Press Secretary Sean Spicer seemed to downplay the idea, suggesting that the president had an “open mind” about such an idea.
When surveyed on the idea as part of NFIB’s member balloting process, members opposed it. Nationwide, a number of states—which leverage an additional tax on fuel— have also weighed gas tax hikes to shore up aging infrastructure. Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb signed a gas tax law last week, while Alabama’s lawmakers recently nixed a measure that would have raised the tax.
