Say no thanks to extra highway dollars

Beware of federal representatives bearing gifts in the form of highway funds. They just might bite you at the gas pumps.

On the table for Congress is a six-year spending bill for the nation's highways, one of the favorite places for the members in Washington, D.C., to show just how much they're doing for the folks back home.

President Bush's plan calls for $256 billion over the six-year program, an increase of 21 percent over the previous six-year budget and roughly the amount available from the federal 18.4-cents-a-gallon federal tax on gasoline.

But a bill making its way through the House, proposed by Republican Don Young of Alaska (and carrying the support so far of Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., and Jon Porter, R-Nev.) would raise the amount to a whopping $375 billion.

Where would the additional $119 billion come from? Your pocket - in the form of a nickel-a-gallon increase in the federal tax.

It's hard to argue the nation's highways don't need work. They do. In Carson City alone, the state expects to spend some $260 million by the time the bypass is completed. Las Vegans are constantly bemoaning the sad state of their roads.

But that's exactly why federal spending should hold the line - and especially why the federal gas tax, which hasn't been raised in 10 years, shouldn't be raised now.

In addition to the federal tax, Nevadans pay 23 cents per gallon in state tax and up to 10 cents a gallon on a county-by-county basis. Carson City, for example, collects a nickel to help pay about $19 million toward the bypass project. Douglas County residents last November turned down a gas-tax initiative.

The message is clear: The federal highway system is in place, but it's now up to each state to take care of those highways and build new stretches where they are needed most.

If the federal tax snatches another nickel a gallon out of our pockets, there will be no flexibility on the state and local fronts. We're not particularly in favor of increases there, either, but we are very much in favor of the decisions being made at those levels.

There's no mileage in sending our money to Washington only to hope it comes back to Nevada.