Threat to End Federal Fuel Taxes Concerns Transportation Officials

(Transport Topics) - Faced with the expiration in September of federal transportation taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel, highway advocates say they are increasingly worried that anti-tax, anti- government rancor could endanger the nation’s transportation system.

Faced with the expiration in September of federal transportation taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel, highway advocates say they are increasingly worried that the anti-tax, anti-government rancor that characterized the debt ceiling battle could endanger the nation's transportation system.

The previous long-term surface transportation spending plan ran out two years ago, and the latest temporary extension expires Sept. 30.

Without another extension, the government cannot collect fuel and other taxes that fund the Highway Trust Fund and support thousands of construction projects and safety enforcement programs across the country.

Any hope that transportation reauthorization, which Congress is set to take up next month, would escape the anti-tax mood in Washington dimmed last week when Grover Norquist, founder of the conservative anti-tax group Americans for Tax Reform, announced he had moved on from the debt ceiling to transportation.

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