House Committee: Fuel tax increase now, vehicles miles tax in the future
The House Transportation and Infrastructure committee held a hearing in February called “The Cost of Doing Nothing: Why Investing in Our Nation’s Infrastructure Cannot Wait.”
Although topics ranged from surface transportation to waterway infrastructure, the common theme during the hearing was the Highway Trust Fund and how to keep it afloat.
“We’ve kicked this can down the road so many times already, pretty soon we’re going to kick it right off the map,” ranking member Sam Graves, R-Mo., said.
During opening statements, committee Chairman Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., said that the nation has an investment gap of
$2 trillion over 10 years. Addressing the issue, three bills have been proposed. One of those bills, dubbed “A Penny for Progress,” will provide approximately $500 billion for infrastructure by indexing the gas and diesel tax and bonding off the indexation revenues and bringing those revenues forward.
Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., pointed out the “elephant in the room.” The federal fuel tax has not changed since 1993.
Although most agreed about a fuel tax increase, the conversation quickly turned to a vehicle miles traveled tax, VMT tax, when discussing long-term solutions.
“I don’t know that a gas tax is bold, because, quite frankly, it’s a short-term solution,” Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., said. “We all know it.”
Graves said the only viable future is a transition to a VMT tax.
Specific to trucking, the issue of congestion was also discussed. Rich McArdle, president of UPS Freight, said that congestion on the Interstate Highway System alone costs the trucking industry nearly $74.5 billion in 2016 and wasted more than 1.2 billion hours. That equals 425,000 drivers sitting idle for a full working year.
“Practically speaking, this means that every day we have to dispatch more tractor-trailers and delivery vehicles than necessary to complete our work under optimum conditions – therefore, and ironically, adding to congestion,” McArdle said. LL