Instead of raising the gas tax, which has not been raised in at least a decade, President Barack Obama says highway funding needs to come from tolls.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said a combination of current-level gas tax receipts, road and bridge tolling and President Obama’s proposed infrastructure fund could offer a way to fund a long-term federal infrastructure program without new taxes, the Journal of Commerce Online reports.
Appearing before a heavily attended conference in Washington, D.C., of the American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA), LaHood vowed “raising the gas tax is not an option” to increase money available for federal transport spending, according to the report.
LaHood argues that the with the current inefficient funding level for the Highway Trust Fund (HTF), tolling is a solution to the deficient. According to the Journal of Commerce report, “tolling can raise a lot of money.”
