Tulsa World
by: D.R. STEWART World Staff Writer
Saturday, September 24, 2011
9/24/2011 4:59:00 AM
CATOOSA - In a slow economy with a 40 percent chance of another recession, the U.S. trucking industry favors increased government spending on highways and bridges - and wants to pay higher diesel taxes to pay for it, an economist said Friday.
"Any economist you talk to believes highways and bridges are very good government spending," said Bob Costello, chief economist and vice president of the American Trucking Associations.
"It not only increases jobs and economic activity. When it's done, you have a much better infrastructure, which has long-term benefits."
Costello was speaking to 80 trucking executives at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa.
He said the ATA has lobbied Congress and the last two administrations to increase diesel fuel taxes to support greater infrastructure spending.
The U.S. federal excise tax on diesel fuel is 24.4 cents a gallon... FULL ARTICLE
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Sat, September 24, 2011
by John Cox