House Majority Leader DeLay Wednesday rejected arguments that indexing the gas tax does not constitute an increase in taxes -- a stand that has been taken by Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Young in an effort to insulate his transportation reauthorization plan from antitax critics.

DeLay told reporters that Young's indexing scheme, which would adjust the gas tax for inflation, is nevertheless "raising gas taxes, it's just a different way of doing it."
"It's nice to call it indexing, but the person buying gas at the pump calls it a gas tax," DeLay said.

DeLay made his comments during an announcement of legislation he and Senate Environment and Public Works Clean Air, Climate Change and Nuclear Safety Subcommittee Chairman George Voinovich, R-Ohio, are sponsoring to restructure the formula for doling out transportation funds from the Highway Trust Fund.
Although a largely semantic dispute, the portrayal of Young's funding plan is considered the lynch pin to the chairman's success in pushing through his transportation reauthorization plan, lawmakers and lobbyists have said.

Young's proposal, which would adjust the level of the gas tax, or "user fee," according to the Consumer Price Index, has run into stiff opposition from House conservatives and White House officials, who are opposing any proposal that would result in an increase in gas prices.

Meanwhile, DeLay and Voinovich also called on Young and the Senate to adjust the Highway Trust Fund's payout formula to provide more funding to states that have traditionally paid more in taxes than they have received from the fund.
The so-called donor-donee split currently guarantees that donor states such as DeLay's Texas will receive at least 90.5 percent of the gas tax dollars the state contributes to the trust fund.

During the last several transportation reauthorization debates, donor and donee states have battled over how the trust fund would be split up; donee states are fighting strenuously to maintain their existing funding while donor states have scrambled for a larger return on their contributions.

DeLay and other backers of reform to the formula want that minimum guarantee to be raised to 95 percent. The House proposal, dubbed the "Highway Funding Equity Act of 2003," is sponsored by 123 bipartisan lawmakers, while the Senate measure is backed by 20 members.

Significantly, both versions include language also providing the 95 percent minimum funding level to states with a population less than 50 residents per square mile.
Young also came under fire Wednesday from Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, R-Colo., who said Young used intimidation in trying to get her to drop her opposition to the gas tax plan. Young did not respond to the charges Wednesday. By John Stanton