Editorial: Gas tax politics is certain to backfire

Thursday, March 16, 2000 | 9:33 a.m.

In a presidential election year, partisanship in Congress often gets intense -- and 2000 is no exception. Last week there was a desire, especially among Republicans, to repeal the 4.3 cent tax hike on a gallon of gas passed in 1993. Republicans believed Vice President Al Gore, who is the Democratic presidential nominee, could be vulnerable since he had cast the tie-breaking vote in the Senate that increased the tax. Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, who runs the Republican Policy Committee, even went so far as to say that he has done his job right if he hangs the gas tax issue as a "political weight" around Gore's neck.

Despite Craig's vow, there was a turnabout this week by many other Republicans, who now say a gas tax rollback isn't such a great idea after all. What prompted this change? Was it a realization that a repeal -- about $26 a year for those driving 12,000 miles at 20 miles per gallon -- would have little impact? Or was it the fact that oil companies might pocket the difference and refuse to pass along the savings to consumers? No, something else was at play.

This was a case of two big Republican campaign contributors, road builders and the trucking industry, getting the GOP's attention. A gas tax reduction obviously would be felt by contractors since highway road projects are in part paid by -- yes, you guessed it -- the federal gas tax. And truckers depend on well-maintained roads, so they also would be concerned if a rollback meant fewer road improvements. Craig may relish being George W. Bush's GOP hatchet man in the Senate, but if these petty games continue, the irony is that these tactics could backfire with voters, with partisanship being hung as a political weight around the necks of Republicans.