Fuel tax still best way to fund highway project, ATA official tells Congress

Highway funding schemes like tolling, vehicle miles traveled taxes or public-private partnerships do not stand up to the criteria for viable highway funding and provide a minimal return on the highway user’s investment, an ATA official told Congress.

The Trucker News Services

7/27/2009

ARLINGTON, Va. – The American Trucking Associations last week told the House Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures that the federal fuel tax remains the most cost-effective way to fund essential highway infrastructure projects.

Barbara Windsor, second vice chairman of ATA, told the subcommittee of the House Committee on Ways and Means that an increase in the fuel tax — with the additional revenue invested in projects and programs that address national highway infrastructure needs — is by far the best way to ensure sufficient funding for highway projects over the near term.

“With collection costs at just 0.2 percent of revenue, no alternative funding schemes can match the efficiency or equitability of the federal fuel tax,” said Windsor, who is president and CEO of Hahn Transportation of New Market, Md.

Windsor said ATA maintains support for the federal fuel tax because it:

• Offers minimal opportunity for evasion.

• Can be collected and enforced without imposing excessive administrative and recordkeeping burdens on highway members.

• Is based currently on readily verifiable measure of highway and vehicle use.

• Remains uniform in application among classes of highway users.

• Does not create impediments to interstate commerce.

Windsor told subcommittee members that highway funding schemes like tolling, vehicle miles traveled taxes or public-private partnerships do not stand up to the criteria for viable highway funding and provide a minimal return on the highway user’s investment.

“A strong transportation system is the backbone of our nation,” Windsor said. “Trucking pays 33 percent of state and federal highway user fees, but logs just 14.4 percent of annual vehicle miles traveled on our highways. In addition to the federal fuel tax, trucks contribute to the system through a Heavy Vehicle Use Tax paid on all trucks above 55,000 pounds, a sales tax on all trucks and trailers, and a tire tax paid on all tires sold by manufacturers, producers or importers.”

Windsor also said that the climate and energy legislation recently passed in the House is likely to significantly increase the cost of fuel.

“This increase would impose significant costs on American consumers and jeopardize the ability of the trucking industry to fund both the highway infrastructure that is greatly needed and also absorb the added costs to fuel brought by climate and energy legislation,” she said. “It is important to note that improving highway infrastructure will decrease fuel consumption and carbon output by both cars and trucks.”

The Trucker staff can be reached to comment on this article at editor@thetrucker.com.

Follow The Trucker on Twitter at www.twitter.com/truckertalk.