Trump willing to consider raising gas tax

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Monday said he will explore the possibility of higher gasoline and diesel fuel taxes, suggesting an increase could pay for his ambitious infrastructure plan.

“It’s something that I would certainly consider,” Trump told Bloomberg News in an interview.

The president indicated that the additional money would be directed toward highway construction and repair. That’s been a problem area because fuel taxes have been unchanged since 1993 and created financial challenges for preserving the Highway Trust Fund.

The federal government currently finances its trust fund with an 18.4 cents per gallon tax on gasoline and a 24.4 cents per gallon tax on diesel fuel, neither of which are adjusted for inflation so the revenues raised has effectively fallen over time.

To keep a positive balance in the trust fund, lawmakers have injected an additional $143 billion into it since 2008, according to a report last year by the Congressional Budget Office. Highway-related tax revenue raised just $37.4 billion in fiscal 2015, meaning that maintenance has been deferred as potholes and traffic jams have worsened.

By increasing fuel taxes by 35 cents a gallon and indexing them to inflation, the federal government would raise an additional $473.6 billion over the next decade, according to the staff of the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation.