Two U.S. senators have proposed hiking the federal gasoline and diesel taxes by 12¢ per gallon over two years and indexing the levies to account for annual inflation after that.
The lawmakers—Sens. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Bob Corker (R-Tenn.)—acknowledge that their plan, which they announced on June 18, isn’t likely to be adopted in time to patch the Highway Trust Fund’s near-term financial hole. Instead, they say they are aiming to have their plan become part of a hoped-for, long-term surface transportation reauthorization late this year.