hand truck machine driver in the United States habituate a lot of diesel fuel — 38 billion gallons ( 144 billion liters ) a year , according tothe American Trucking Associations ( ATA ) industry group . So you might recollect it ’s one chemical group that clearly would n’t want to see a federal fuel - taxation salary increase , as it would increase its cost . After all , truckers already pay a hefty 24.4 penny per gallon in federal revenue enhancement ondiesel fuel , which is significantly eminent than the 18.4 cent per gallon that machine driver pay on gasolene purchases federally , according to theU.S. Energy Information Administration .
That ’s why it belike will come in as a surprise that ATA , the umbrella organization of Department of State trucking chemical group and industry - related conferences and councils , has been pushing Congress and the White House for years to increase federal fuel taxes . As the New York Timesrecently account , ATA officials have testified before Congress at least 19 times over the past 11 years in favor of raise Union fuel taxation .
The understanding : Truckers have to depend upon roads , bridges , tunnel and other part of the U.S. transportation infrastructure , which has fall into an increase state of disrepair . As a2017 reportby the American Society of Civil Engineers concluded , the U.S. has been underspending on infrastructure maintenance for years , so that we now have a staggering $ 420 billion stockpile in postulate main road repairs , and another $ 123 billion in delinquent bridge mend . That ’s not even counting the upgrade , young route and modernization needed to accommodate increased future dealings pauperization , which could require another $ 193 billion in disbursement .
Fuel taxes are one way to raise some of the needed money , but those levy en masse are n’t index to inflation and were last raised in 1993 , so they have n’t keep up with spring up substructure costs .
" The fuel tax is the most effective gross source , and increasing it will produce no extra collection costs and minimum evasion , " trucking executive Derek J. Leatherstold a U.S. Senate subcommitteein April . " Indexing can throttle the negatively charged receipts impact of inflation and ameliorate fomite fuel efficiency . "
Leathers said the industry prefers fuel taxis to another potential solution — spiritual rebirth of existing lanes in the interstate organisation to price roads . Setting up and man toll booths would ensue in more overhead and less money spent on roads , and traffic would shift to alternative route that are n’t build up to handle that much dealings , he testified .
