More than 250 members of the U.S. House of Representatives from both parties want to see a fix for the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) included in any tax reform package this year, The Hill reports. Lawmakers wrote a letter to the House Ways and Means Committee, urging it to come up with a long-term funding solution for the fund.
The Highway Trust Fund is financed by federal fuel taxes that haven’t been raised in more than 20 years.
“As the Committee on Ways and Means continues to work toward a much-needed update of the U.S. tax code, you have an opportunity to fix the Highway Trust Fund,” the lawmakers say. “If states are unable to rely on timely reimbursements from the HTF for performed work, projects will be halted, improvements to road safety and congestion relief will be jeopardized, and America’s infrastructure will fall further behind the rest of the world.”
The fund is expected to face a shortfall in 2020 when its current funding expires, The Hill adds. Some of the funding ideas include charging fees based on the number of miles a vehicle travels, raising the gas tax, and increasing existing sales and tire taxes.
