Raising Taxes Is No Way to Fund an Infrastructure Bill
Borrowing is better, because improvements are crucial to the nation and will pay for themselves by expanding the economy.
Borrowing will allow the U.S. to quickly build out new sustainable infrastructure such as electric vehicle charging stations.
Photographer: Bloomberg
With the Covid-19 relief bill behind us, attention is turning to infrastructure — a longstanding priority for President Joe Biden’s economic recovery program. A big infrastructure bill would achieve multiple goals at the same time: putting Americans to work, raising wages, strengthening the economy, improving industrial competitiveness and speeding the transition to green energy. Given the confluence of all of these urgent goals, Congress should not balk at the borrowing needed to pay for the bill.
Traditionally, American infrastructure bills have been a grim necessity that maintain the existing economy without really improving it. Civil engineers will warn that our roads and bridges are decaying, and after years of that the federal government will lob a pot of money at the problem, along with a smattering of new construction projects. The roads and bridges get patched into passable condition, some construction workers get jobs, and the system creaks along for another few years.