Construction groups cheered when the joint chairmen of a high-profile fiscal policy panel called for a boost in the federal gasoline tax. However, they shouldn’t take the idea—floated by former White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles, a Democrat, and ex-U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson (R-Wyo.)—to the bank.
Bowles and Simpson, co-chairs of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, released on Nov. 10 a draft proposal that includes the gas-tax provision, but the full commission has until Dec. 1 to vote on a final report.