Lawmakers See Fuel-Tax Hike for New Road Funds

WASHINGTON -- U.S. lawmakers said on Wednesday that drivers will have to help pay for improving the nation's highways over the next six years through higher fuel taxes, Reuters reported.

But Rep. Don Young, an Alaska Republican and head of the Transportation Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, said he expected voters tired of getting stuck on the nation's clogged highways to welcome an increase.

A spokesman for Young said several options for raising the fuel tax from the current 18 cents per gallon were under consideration. But he said Young favored boosting it to 23 cents, the level it would be now had the rate been indexed under previous programs, and indexing it into the future.

"It's a user fee and people will want to pay that user's fee if they know it's going to be used for transportation," Young said, saying congestion cost the country $67 billion every year in excess fuel consumed and lost work hours.

-- NYSSCPA.org News Staff

Posted on 03/14/03