AAEI, Transport Groups Throw Support Behind User-Generated Revenue for Highway Trust Fund
Congress should restore the user-generated revenue stream for Highway Trust Fund, a long-term solution to the Fund’s revenue challenge that would also “boost the economy while reducing the deficit,” a group of 30 transportation, construction and freight associations said April 24. In a letter sent to House Budget Committee leaders, the groups said that the HTF will exhaust its cash balance sometime in 2015. Funding for the HTF was not a part of last year’s transportation bill, MAP-21.
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Budget proposals from the House, Senate and Obama Administration assume full funding for HTF programs in fiscal year 2014 "and recognize the funding challenges following the expiration of MAP-21, with the Administration and Senate providing a reserve fund that allows for increased transportation spending,” the letter said. But it is “disappointing” none of the budgets propose a solution to address the Fund’s long-term structural problems, said the letter.
Congress should return HTF to a “user-supported revenue system with predictable, sustainable and growing revenue sources,” the letter said. Historically, HTF programs have been funded by fuel taxes and truck fees. The user fees, last increased in 1993, “continue to be insufficient to meet the Nation’s needs,” the letter said. “We hope Senators and Representatives will make a distinction between general taxes and user fees paid by the direct beneficiaries of the program in considering solutions to the HTF funding crisis.”
The letter was signed by groups including the American Association of Exporters and Importers, the American Trucking Association, the National Retail Federation and the American Public Transportation Association.