ARLINGTON, Va. (May 13, 2015) — With a May 31 deadline approaching, Congress should pass another short-term highway funding bill while continuing to discuss a long-term bill, leaders of the American Trucking Associations (ATA) said May 12.
An increase in the gasoline tax should be part of any meaningful action to replenish the Highway Trust Fund, according to ATA President and CEO Bill Graves.
“The trucking industry moves nearly 70 percent of our nation's freight tonnage and pays for nearly half of the Highway Trust Fund, so we have a lot of skin in this game,” Mr. Graves said. “We're willing to pay more at the pump to help Congress get a long-term solution for our infrastructure across the finish line in 2015.”
The same day as the ATA issued its statement, the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) released a study showing that voting for a gas tax increase to fund transportation projects has not hurt either Republicans or Democrats at election time.
Ninety-five percent of Republican state legislators and 88 percent of Democratic state legislators who voted for gas tax increases during the 2013-2014 legislative year won re-election in November 2014, according to the analysis performed by ARTBA's Transportation Investment Advocacy Center.
Seven state legislatures in Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Vermont and Wyoming approved gas tax hikes in 2013-2014, the ARTBA said.
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