Congress Tackles Highway Financing Issues
The Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) tax, public-private partnerships and the level of highway funding received attention in recent days, as lawmakers prepare for the highway reauthorization bill.
In a hearing last week, House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman James Oberstar (D-Minn.) expressed support for accelerating the transition to the VMT. He suggested doing away with a proposed VMT pilot project and instead ramping up the transition to the tax.
Senators Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) and Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) have now introduced bills to reduce the spread of public-private partnerships to fund highway projects. One bill would ensure that privatized highways effectively lower a state’s eligibility for federal highway funds.The other would restrict the depreciation schedule for a private company’s lease of a public highway, thereby ending a practice that currently makes the tax treatment of lease projects highly favorable.
Additionally, Congress approved a 2010 budget resolution that included a baseline of $324 billion over the next six years for highway spending, much higher than the Senate version of the resolution. Chairman Oberstar has stated he would like to pass a highway spending bill of approximately $500 billion over six years.
