Venable partner Jim Burnley was interviewed in a November 4, 2014 Fleet Owner article on funding for the highway trust fund (HTF). While increased fuel taxes have little support in Congress, some expect a “patchwork” of revenue-generating methods to fund the HTF.
“How to pay for transportation infrastructure is the 800 pound gorilla in the room,” said Burnley. “The funding challenge is just so daunting now at the federal level,” he added noting that the size of increased fuel taxes needed to fund the HTF would be too much to bear politically.
Back in June, a bipartisan group of Senators suggested raising the fuel tax to no avail. “That’s why regardless of what happens in the election, a ‘patchwork’ of revenue solutions is most likely going to be used,” said Burnley. “Speculating wildly, that’s most likely going to include some sort of indexing of the fuel tax to inflation, using funds generated from corporate tax reform efforts, and other methods…It’s just not likely there will be any stomach to double or triple fuel taxes.”