WASHINGTON — Several lawmakers, Department of Transportation officials and experts have expressed concern with elements of a vehicle miles traveled tax, which some advocates tout as a replacement for the federal fuel tax, while also cautioning that a transition to VMT could be a slow process.
Roy Kienitz, DOT undersecretary for policy, said during a Nov. 18 briefing by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee that any solution for overcoming declining revenue from the fuel tax would be “technically difficult and politically difficult.”
Kienitz was pressed by Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) about what DOT was doing “to prepare for a transition to a new sustainable funding stream.”
“It is a matter on which we’ve giving a fair amount of thought,” Kienitz said, adding that while DOT was “working really hard to prepare internally, none of that is something that’s become a proposal.”
Earlier this year, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood floated the idea of a VMT charge as a replacement for the fuel tax, only to be rebuked by the White House.
By Sean McNally
Senior Reporter
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