Elected officials in Washington and State Capitals are looking at reducing the federal gas tax in response to increasing prices at the pump. Industry and transportation planners counter that they need federal funding certainty for projects and forecasting. Stopping the federal gas tax (already at a 1993 rate) would impede these processes, said David Martin, President of the Arizona Chapter of the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) in a recent interview.
The gas tax generates revenue for the Highway Trust Fund (HTF), which provides federal dollars for the nation’s transportation system. Because America’s infrastructure requires assured investment, stakeholders are emphasizing that legislation to cut the gas tax threatens the momentum America is trying to make to improve infrastructure.
Reducing investment can actually negatively impact the United States’ fiscal health and mobility. Each dollar invested in infrastructure adds double to triple benefits to the economy overall, and crumbling infrastructure costs every American household. Furthermore, because there are fuel market forces policymakers cannot control, experts are cautioning against this move.