Voltmann: $100 Billion a Year Needed for Infrastructure
Speaking at the TMW Systems user conference here, Robert Voltmann said the current federal fuel tax is “woefully inadequate to pay the rising costs of pouring concrete,” and that the tax should have been indexed for inflation the last time Congress raised it, in 1992.
Manufacturers have said that the United States needs to spend $100 billion a year to get highways in adequate condition to move the economy’s freight, Voltmann said.
“We have to invest in our infrastructure,” he said, although Voltmann didn’t say how much he thought any tax increase should be.
While taxes on gasoline and diesel should be raised in the short run, he said, in the longer run another funding method is needed. That’s because people are driving hybrid cars —referred to by Voltmann as “flashlights” because they have batteries and lights — which burn less gasoline than other cars but still use the roads.
Other potential ways to raise revenue for highways could be a tax on crude oil, a tax on vehicle miles traveled or a line on citizens' tax returns, Voltmann said.
Another possibility would be to end federal highway funding and make roads the responsibility of states, as some Republicans in Congress advocate, he said. “That means toll booths,” he added.
