As Americans cut back on driving, federal motor-fuels taxes and other revenue flowing into the Highway Trust Fund dropped by $3 billion in fiscal year 2008, compared with the sum collected the year before, the U.S. Dept. of Transportation reports. DOT Secretary Mary Peters warns that if traffic continues downward, the trust fund may show a shortfall sooner than anticipated. Other observers share that worry.
DOT said on Nov. 19 that the trust fund took in $31 billion in fiscal 2008, down 8.8% from the $34 billion collected in 2007. As income fell, spending from the trust fund on highway and transit projects rose by $2 billion, compared with 2007’s level.
Vehicle miles traveled continued to dip in September, declining 4.4% from September 2007, the Federal Highway Administration reports. That marks the eleventh consecutive month vehicle miles were down from year-earlier levels.
The falloff in highway travel and the resulting drop in trust-fund income threatened to push the trust fund’s highway account into a deficit by Sept. 30. About two weeks before that date, a crisis was averted when President Bush signed a bill shifting $8 billion to the trust fund from the general fund.
Even with the infusion, the highway account may not stay in the black through fiscal 2009, some fear. “I think that that is a very real possibility,” says Greg Cohen, American Highway Users Alliance president. “Clearly we need a more sustainable solution, including a user-fee increase.” Peters has opposed boosting the gasoline tax, but Cohen says a hike will “have to be part of the mix,” at least as an option to be discussed.
The trust fund’s main revenue sources are the 18.4¢-per-gallon gas tax and 24.4¢-per-gallon diesel-fuel levy. Other components are taxes on gasohol, special fuels such as liquefied petroleum gas, plus taxes on truck tires and heavy-truck sales.
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