chri chris edwards, do you support a raise in the gas tax something more proportional to something that we're paying for gasoline itself? >> i don't agree to a tax gas increase. i think state governments can raise their taxes any time they want, th so for example, the $2 billion project inside washington, d.c. to widen the beltway in virginia there is a lot of broad agreement. to think that the federal government should repeal or take back its tolls on the interstate highways. the interstate highways are owned by state governments and i believe the states should be allowed to solve their own transportation problem. part of that is putting in new electronic polling system in congested areas of the interstate to reduce congestion but raise money for state infrastructure budgets. that makes a lot of sense. >> public-private means eventually public private equity in those projects where private companies have taken a controlling interest in what had been perceived as pieces of public property like the chicago skyway. is the public happy with the way it's turned out? those tolls have gotten very heavy, and once they put tolls thon those widened roads a lot of people have not been using t and it's not meeting its revenue fund. is this a working model? >> most infrastructure in america used to be private, and most urban transit but the rail systems from private in america. this is a bit of a back to the future. and as we've discussed most other high income countries around the world are doing much more , i think it could work for everyone. you get projects that are on time, on budget and they're done efficiently than old fashion government procurement. >> there are two things . there are things that we would distinguish thes between these two things. you can do public-private partnership which is putting more risk on the private sector for the public benefit but get eefficients in terms of contracting and labor costs and everything else. it is important that we understand the differences in these projects. private money as you noted has to be repaid at some point. so you have to have another financing source. typically it's been tolls. there are a lot of questions to be answered on this. >> elizabeth, is there enough of a track record that public money is going to want to come in and do these works? >> well, there is a very interesting thing that my team at harvard business school found when preparing for a national summit, a large number of the investors in u.s. infrastructure in project are foreign companies, and i'm all in favor of taking foreign capitol, i won't turn that money down, but we don't have enough u.s. companies yet. some are now getting into it with the expertise, the knowledge and the interest to be very good planners at the table when those regional coalitions do create the state and local strategies. by the way it can't all be done by the state because transportation by it's very nation crosses state lines. you do need the port authority of new york and new jersey. in addition to the little traffic problems of last september it turns out that new jersey has one of the most congested port orders in america. you need things that expand state lines. there is always a federal role. but we have to get more u.s. companies interested and involved in this sector, the chicago sky ways was privatized. there were no bidders. they tried for a second time to sell midway airport in chicago, and they only had one bidder so they had to withdraw the offer. >> if you can't sell midway after tremendous capitol investment there it's a much improved airport. if you can't sell it in the condition that it is in now, it's hard to know what would bring any kind of capitol investment from the private sector. just a short break. when we come back. >> some of that is uncertainty. the very uncertainty that we're going through now is will there be funds which mean states can't plan for transportation needs if they don't know what to expect from the federal government. that climate of uncertainty now in washington is affecting our ability to attract capital investment into the united states by u.s. or foreign companies. >> as we've been mentioning, america needs a lot of work. how it gets paid for this time on inside story. we're going to take a short break. stay with us. consider this. the news of the day plus so much more. answers to the questions no one else will ask. >> it seems like they can't agree to anything in washington no matter what. rebuilding the dm on real money with ali velshi on al jazeera america >> welcome back to inside story. i'm ray suarez. the obama administration has put forward a four-year, $300 billion plan for transportation infrastructure improvements. structurally deficient bridges are at the heart of the plan, but there is no call from the administration's idea for an increase in the $0.18 a gallon federal tax. we're talking about the problems, who benefits, who pays if the problems are fixed on this edition of "inside story." still with us, professor at harvard business school. in our washington studio, james core liss, and from the cato institute. what is the contract between a rise in the gas tax and the obama administration's current plan? do they yield the same amount of money, and do the people who use the facilities end up paying . >> very few have proposed raising the tax gas. the obama m has talked about the corporate tax reform, repatriate the funds. if we grease the gasoline tax and index it to inflation we get something that is a bit more sustainable. >> chris edwards, i know you're not in love with either proposal, but which one is the easer one to swallow? >> i don't think president obama's corporate tax plan will go anywhere. the federal government than been known for bridging to nowhere. that's why i think it makes a lot more sense for state governments to tackle these problems. you're looking at gas tax revenues or electronic tolling or local, private partnerships, i think the solution is at the state-government level not the federal level . >> is there any analysis of one approach over the other? you heard about sending a price signal to oh people who use these facilities, is that a good idea? >> i think users should understand what they're consumer. at the same time there is a wider public interest. one of the reasons why i'm pleased to be part of this conversation, we concluded that we need a national conversation. we haven't--we're now doing this in a crisis mode because of the highway trust fund running out of money, but that we n