ATA's Graves: Fuel Tax ‘Viable Revenue Source’ for Trust Fund
WASHINGTON — American Trucking Associations President Bill Graves told House lawmakers June 17 increasing fuel taxes would ensure investments for highway programs are met for the next several years.
“While improvements in vehicle fuel efficiency, particularly in light-duty vehicles, will have a progressively negative impact on revenue from fuel taxes, the fuel tax is today and will, for the foreseeable future, be a viable revenue source for the Highway Trust Fund,” Graves said in a statement to members of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee. The panel has jurisdiction over the trust fund.
The trucking industry is among several transportation stakeholders that support raising fuel taxes to pay for big-ticket infrastructure projects. Congress has not approved an increase in fuel taxes since 1993. Those stakeholders also are calling on Congress to avoid approving a short-term funding extension for transportation programs this summer, warning that doing so would disrupt states’ abilities to plan long term for highway construction projects.
But with transportation funding authority set to expire July 31, Ways and Means Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) told Graves and other witnesses he did not support a fuel tax increase. The chairman also indicated that a transfer this summer from the general Treasury fund to the Highway Trust Fund seems unavoidable.
The trust fund is projected to run dangerously low in a couple of months, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Since 2008, Congress has approved the transfer of about $62 billion from the general fund to ensure the trust fund's solvency.
On June 18, Senate tax policy writers on the Finance Committee have scheduled a hearing to examine long-term funding for transportation programs.
