Charge More for Fuel to Alleviate Congestion, Knight Transportation Chief Says
SAN DIEGO — Kevin Knight, chairman and CEO of Knight Transportation, Inc., said lawmakers should consider raising the national tax on fuels as a way to generate more funds to rebuild the country's aging infrastructure.
The extra revenue would help pay for new projects across metropolitan areas that reduce congestion, Knight said on Oct. 7 at a panel hosted by Transport Topics and the American Transportation Research Institute.
The event was held during American Trucking Associations’ Management Conference & Exhibition.
“We’re going to have to have a little more political courage and continue to educate those that determine laws and policies in our country,” Knight said, adding, “Without action it is just going to get worse and I think … we've got an opportunity to do something really important.”
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Publicly traded Knight Transportation ranks No. 31 on the Transport Topics Top 100 For-Hire Carriers in the United States and Canada.
For several years, the trucking industry has called on policymakers to raise fuel taxes to cover the cost of maintaining and upgrading transportation networks.
The industry argues that projects aimed at reducing bottlenecks on major highways would reduce congestion and help carriers deliver goods, commodities and services quicker to consumers. In May, ATRI found that congestion on the interstates cost the trucking industry more than $9.2 billion in operational spending last year.
But congressional transportation leaders have not indicated they will raise fuel taxes, even though Congress has been grappling with a depleting federal Highway Trust Fund. The fund is paying out more for state obligations than it takes in from dedicated excise taxes. Recent projections have the fund running out of money by next spring.
