UPDATED With Donovan response
Bay Ridge City Councilman Vinnie Gentile, the Democratic nominee for New York’s 11th Congressional District, today, backed bipartisan legislation aimed at addressing the Highway Trust Fund solvency crisis and spurring new infrastructure projects and construction jobs across America.
The Infrastructure 2.0 Act, sponsored by Democratic Congressman John Delaney of Maryland and Republican Congressman Richard Hanna of New York, uses international corporate tax reform to fill the Highway Trust Fund pothole solidly for six years.
“Our highways, streets, mass transit systems, and bridges are in total disrepair and it’s time we passed a real bipartisan solution to keep the Highway Trust Fund strong and solvent,” said Gentile. “This unique approach to funding and financing America’s infrastructure is exactly what is needed.”
The Infrastructure 2.0 Act would not raise the existing federal fuel tax. Instead, under the Act, existing overseas profits made by multinational U.S. corporations would be subject to a mandatory, one-time 8.75% tax. This tax would produce six years of solvency with enough revenue to add $120 billion to the Highway Trust Fund along with an additional $50 billion towards the creation of a new American Infrastructure Fund that would focus on innovative and essential transportation, energy, and education projects.
“We need creative, aggressive, apolitical approaches to addressing our nation’s infrastructure priorities,” Gentile continued. “Indeed, just as the great New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia once remarked that there was no Democratic or Republican way to pick up the garbage, this is not about politics. This is about innovative, bipartisan solutions that will not only address our nation’s woeful infrastructure funding deficits but improve the lives of all Americans by creating jobs and stimulating the economy.”
“When elected to Congress, I will act quickly to address our growing infrastructure needs by signing onto the Infrastructure 2.0 Act and fighting for its swift passage.”
Gentile’s Republican opponent in the race, Staten Island District Attorney Dan Donovan, responded that reforming the nation’s tax code, dealing with issues of repatriation and creating a reliable transportation funding stream are complicated issues on their own and combining them without overall reform may not be the best solution.
“There are other bipartisan proposals that exist, such as an infrastructure bank, which would create a public-private initiative to help fund projects at no cost to the taxpayer that should be considered as well,” said Donovan. “New Yorkers send $1.25 to Washington and get only 70 cents in return. We need to start by getting our fair share and then work to come up with a comprehensive policy solution that makes sense for the long term health of our economy and transportation needs.”
