Bloomberg: How Gasoline-Use Drop May Raise Taxes in Deleware
media mentionBy Romy Varghese, May 27, 2014
An unprecedented drop in gasoline use as more Americans drive fuel-efficient vehicles and choose mass transit is undermining a revenue stream for repairing crumbling roads and bridges.
Lawmakers from New Hampshire to Wyoming are moving to either raise fuel taxes or overhaul them as Congress is stalled on how to fund a federal pot for highway projects. Delaware may raise a rate that has been flat for almost two decades.
Fuel-efficiency gains, inflation and higher construction costs have eroded the ability of state gasoline taxes to keep pace with needs, said Carl Davis, an analyst at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a Washington-based research group.