States pitch mileage tax to bridge gap in federal highway funding

Route Fifty

By Daniel C. Lock

OCTOBER 18, 2023

The main source of federal funding for highways and transit could run out of money by 2028, unless Congress finds a way to fix long-standing problems with the gas tax.

The primary federal account that provides funding to states for highways and transit could run out of money by 2028 unless Congress fixes long-standing problems, an expert told U.S. House members Wednesday.

Chad Shirley, an analyst for the Congressional Budget Office, said that the short-term influx of money from the 2021 infrastructure law would run out in five years, once again forcing Congress to decide whether to raise new transportation taxes, cut spending or use other federal money to make up for the transportation funding shortfall.

“If balances in the highway account or in the transit account go to zero, the federal government can’t make its payments to state and local governments on a timely basis,” Shirley testified during a hearing of the highways and transit subcommittee of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

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