Michael G. Dolan

Time for a Change

The fuel tax has been the revenue that the United States has relied on for 80 years to maintain and improve its roads and transit systems. This article describes how this tax is now in serious jeopardy. This is due to increased fuel efficiency of vehicles and a poor economy that has hampered fuel tax revenue. In September of 2011, the federal government announced a sizeable increase in the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for new vehicles, bumping the required average of 35.5 miles per gallon (MPG) in 2016 to 54.5 MPG in 2025. This action, which is great for greenhouse gases reduction and foreign oil dependence, will have a devastating impact on highway funding if Congress does not take action to identify new revenue sources that are not based on fuel consumption.