Public Works Funding Falls as Infrastructure Deteriorates
And last month, West Virginia passed a package of higher taxes, including an increase
in its gas tax, estimated to lift road funding by $140 million a year.
In West Virginia, where President Trump on Thursday touted a vague $1 trillion
infrastructure plan, public works spending has fallen for five straight years.
The federal gas tax, at 18.4 cents a gallon, is the largest source of funding for those projects,
but it is not indexed to inflation and has not been raised since 1993.
Mr. Trump’s budget proposed just $200 billion in new infrastructure spending, plus unspecified incentives for private investment
that it hopes will add another $800 billion over 10 years.
Government spending on transportation and other public works is in decline as federal
funding stagnates and state and local governments tighten their belts.
Chris Spear, the president of the American Trucking Associations, said his group had
testified before Congress at least 19 times since 2006 in favor of raising the tax.