Expert Witness Blog
In Fuel Tax Continues to Provide Greatest Public Benefits, trucking experts at the American Transportation Associations write:
It is time to fix our crumbling transportation infrastructure by raising the gas tax, The Washington Post said in a recent editorial.
“By any measure, driving in the United States is cheap,” The Post said. “Driving today is substantially cheaper, in real terms, than it was about a generation ago…Americans spend just $19 on gas taxes per 1,000 miles driven — half of what they paid in 1975.” Highways are experiencing twice the usage, twice the wear and tear, for the same amount of money; it is a system which can not sustain itself and results in poorer roads for taxpayers. An expected freight boom over the next ten years will put an even greater strain on the nation’s vital transportation system.
According to a recent report compiled by IHS Global Insight and Martin Labbe Associates, U.S. freight tonnage will increase 25 percent by 2021, with the share moved by truck increasing to 71 percent. Our highways cannot accommodate the expected increase in freight volume without substantial improvements, which are not possible with current funding levels. The most efficient way to improve the health of the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) is to increase the federal fuel tax. The buying power of the HTF is greatly diminished and without replenishment, threatens our economic prosperity and competitiveness. Revenue from the fuel tax will help alleviate critical chokepoints in the supply chain, lower fuel consumption, thus reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and increasing the efficiency of freight transportation.
Read more: truckline.com.