Worry Increases as the Future of Highway Funding Remains Uncertain

Worry Increases as the Future of Highway Funding Remains Uncertain

There is still no decision made to end the crisis of the Highway and Transit Program, the fund set up to ensure that the highways were maintained across America.  It has been in trouble since 2008, when the spending was more than the duty claimed. The resolution of a hike in the tax on fuel was rejected with the difference being settled from the general fund.  This has continued each year as the amount collected and the amount spent still don’t match.

This problem needs to be resolved, but it has been so drawn out that it is getting to the point where the collapse of the Highway Funding project looks possible.

If it does collapse, the question will be who and how is the road infrastructure and the daily care of the highways going to be completed.  It will need to determined which departments are going to be responsible for the upkeep of the road structure.  The biggest question is how this key component for many businesses is going to be fair under this unclear current system?

Some suggestions include taxing vehicles for each journey they make, but tracking individual cars, trucks, buses and any other road user is not a practical solution. Another suggestion falls to the corporate tax reform and using the funds created to bridge the gaps between the spending on the highway and the actual income.  One suggested that is getting support is returning the funding for highway repairs to the individual States and working with them to ensure the highway network doesn’t suffer.

While the AMSA and its members continue to pay the high cost of the Highway Trust Fund, they are just as eager as Congress to come up with a solution for the funding, especially as there is a presidential election starting in 2016. Finding a long-term solution is ideal to this problem is key before May, which is when the Highway Trust Fund will shutdown.

Whether it is a long term or short term solution, something needs to be done as soon as possible to keep our highways, which moving businesses rely on, from going into disrepair.