U.S. Highway Trust Fund Faces Insolvency Next Year, CBO Says

[Javaman]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-31/u-s-highway-trust-fund-faces-insolvency-next-year-cbo-says.html

The Highway Trust Fund, which pays for U.S. road, bridge and mass-transit projects, faces insolvency “sometime” during the 2013 fiscal year that will begin Oct. 1, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

The Highway Trust Fund will probably run a deficit of $10 billion this year, compared with $8 billion in 2011, the Washington-based CBO, which provides Congress with analysis on programs funded by the U.S. budget, said in a report today. The fund, which is financed through fuel taxes, won’t be able to meet its obligations next fiscal year, according to the report.

“Today America is one big pothole and we have lots of bridges that are crumbling,” Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a speech in New York yesterday. “The Highway Trust Fund was a great source to build our interstate highway system, but it has been diminished.”

Revenue into the trust fund, primarily from U.S. fuel taxes, has declined as cars have become more fuel-efficient and Americans are driving less because of higher gasoline prices, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

more at link...

[mdavies013]

1. Here's a thought...end the endless speculations which according to recent reports adds $0.80 to the

price of gas...which is 6 times greater than the fed gas tax. Stop Wall Street taxation without representation. Use the $0.80 to fix roads and bridges and then drop it back down to the normal rate.

I am sick of hearing about reining in Wall Street...and we can do things to make this Country great...but what is never addressed is that Wall Street is taxing everything we buy...they are the Mafia and we are stuck paying higher prices because there is no cop on the beat that will stop it.

[MattBaggins]

2. Why do you hate free enterpirise????????????

[GeorgeGist]

3. I thought this was interesting in light of the current fervor for longer tax holidays.

CBO’s Baseline Projections of Trust Fund Surpluses or Deficits

http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/108xx/doc10871/AppendixD.shtml