ILMA Compoundings - May 2021 - 3

BOARD OF DIRECTORS
President
Chuck Decker
American Oil &
Supply International, LLC
Treasurer
Michael Damiani
Radco Industries, Inc.
Secretary
Ann Ball
CIMCOOL Industrial
Products LLC
Immediate Past President
Barbara Kudis
Allegheny Petroleum
Products Co.

Barbara A. Bellanti
Battenfeld Grease &
Oil Corporation of N.Y.
Richard Camper
Pacific Precision
Formulators Inc.
James Carroll
Schaeffer Manufacturing Co.
Dave Croghan
Maxum Petroleum
Catharine T. Golden
Etna Products, Inc.
Frank H. Hamilton III
South Atlantic Services, Inc.
Greg Julian
Advanced Lubrication
Specialties
John Lorimor
Aerospace Lubrication Inc.
Kent Morris
Pinnacle Oil, Inc.
David Richards
RichardsApex, Inc.
Michael Skuratovich
Eastern Oil Co.

STAFF
Chief Executive Officer
Holly Alfano

Director of Marketing
Amber Lopez

Associate Director
Martha F. Jolkovski

Meetings Manager
Meg Thaxton

Director of
Communications
Caitlin Jacobs

Accounting Manager
Margaret Smith

Director of Member
Engagement
Tim Mack

General Counsel
Jeffrey L. Leiter
Associate Counsel
Matthew Levetown

EDITORIAL, DESIGN
Contributing Editor
Brenda Gillinson

Designer
Mark St. Amand

THE YGS GROUP
Senior Managing Editor
Sam Hoffmeister

Copy Editor
Amanda Holahan

Content & Copy Director
Craig Lauer

Account Manager
Max Lalwani

MEDIA SALES
President
Jack Davidson
Vice President
Serena L. Spiezio

Advertising Account
Executive
Tima Good
tima.good@theYGSgroup.com

INDEPENDENT LUBRICANT
MANUFACTURERS ASSOCIATION
675 North Washington Street, Suite 275, Alexandria, VA 22314
Phone: 703-684-5574 * Fax: 703-836-8503 * www.ilma.org
Editorial, Design, Media Sales, & Printed by The YGS Group
800-501-9571 * www.theygsgroup.com
Compoundings (USPS 003-447) is published monthly by the
Independent Lubricant Manufacturers Association,
675 North Washington Street, Suite 275
Alexandria, VA 22314.
Annual subscriptions: Members, $75 of annual dues;
nonmembers, $185. Periodicals postage paid at Alexandria, VA
and additional mailing offices.
ISSN 1042-508X
POSTMASTER: send address changes to
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LETTER FROM THE CEO

Time to Act on Infrastructure

hese days, the talk in Washington is infrastructure. The business community in D.C. has rallied around " Build by the Fourth, " calling on Congress
to act before July 4.
The Biden administration has released its vision for infrastructure in the 21st
century, the American Jobs Plan. Out of the $2 trillion proposal, only $621
billion is slated for transportation infrastructure. This includes $174 billion for
electric vehicles (EVs), while the roads and bridges on which they travel are crumbling. The bill allocates only $115 billion for roads, bridges and streets " in most
critical need of repair. "
The definition of infrastructure has been stretched. To most people, infrastructure means roads, bridges, sea and airports, public transportation, and even power
lines and internet. The president's proposal is a major expansion of the definition
and, along with that, the price tag.
There is a lot of money dedicated to issues that have nothing to do with infrastructure. Some of them are worthy, such as affordable housing, expansion of
Medicaid programs and pay raises for caregivers for the elderly. One can't argue with
the need for some of these programs, but it is a stretch to call them " infrastructure. "
The most pressing question is, how are we going to pay for this? President Joe
Biden's answer is to increase corporate taxes from 21% to 28%, rolling back the
Trump tax cuts. Business groups vehemently oppose this approach. They argue
that they are still grappling with the pandemic and just getting back on their feet,
and a tax increase at this time will cost jobs. A National Association of Manufacturers report estimates 1 million lost jobs resulting from the proposed changes to
corporate tax rates.
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO USER FEES?
The gas tax has been very effective for the past 60 years. For years, the 18.4 centsper-gallon federal gas tax has been deposited into the highway trust fund, and for
the most part, the money was spent on highways and other transportation-related
projects. The gas tax built the interstate highway system, once the envy of the
world. Unfortunately, this tax, last raised under the Clinton administration back
in 1993, is out of date. For example, there is no mechanism in place to tax EVs,
which eventually will gain greater penetration of the fleet.
It is challenging to move from the gas tax to another system of user fees such
as a vehicle-miles-traveled (VMT) fee, but it's not impossible. A number of pilot
projects have demonstrated that creation of such a system is doable, including one
conducted in Oregon in 2007 involving 5,000 volunteer motorists.
According to the Federal Highway Administration, " VMT fees' application is
envisioned through the use of an onboard vehicle device to capture the distance
driven by a vehicle through GPS or other technology and relate that to a method of
charging, which could range from manual cash payment to automatic deduction for
Continued on page 10
Holly Alfano
Chief Executive Officer

© 2021 Independent Lubricant Manufacturers Association.
All Rights Reserved.
ILMA is pleased to present a variety of viewpoints in Compoundings
magazine. Readers should keep in mind that bylined articles represent the views of the named author or authors and not necessarily
the opinions, viewpoints or positions of ILMA.

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ILMA Compoundings - May 2021

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