Higher Gas Taxes Alone Won't Work

Last week, President Trump said he’d “consider” raising the gas tax. But Republicans in Congress swiftly doused the suggestion with cold water. That’s not much of a surprise: The national gas tax has been, for many years, a “third rail” for tax-averse Republicans and Democrats alike. Americans pay Uncle Sam 18.4 cents per gallon at the pump, a number that hasn’t budged since 1993 as lawmakers are loathe to levy what many view as a regressive fee.

On the government side, that revenue buys nearly 40 percent less today than it did that year, as construction costs have steadily risen. Meanwhile, badly needed transportation infrastructure repairs are estimated at $3 trillion nationally. By 2020, only half of the Highway Trust Fund—the primary source of federal funding for highways and transit—will come directly from the gas tax. The rest will come from tens of billions of dollars transferred from the general fund, and a chunk that previously helped manage leaking gas storage tanks.