On the recordNovember 15, 2023
As Americans in 2023, there is plenty that we disagree on, but, last week, USA Today released a new study on something we can all agree to hate--potholes. The study ranked all 50 States based on how many potholes covered their roads. It also included that the average car repair after a tussle with a pothole costs over $400. That is a lot of money for Americans to pay unexpectedly after a road incident, and, unfortunately, our pothole problem is about to get much worse. For the past 67 years, the Highway Trust Fund has largely funded road maintenance across our Nation. The fund repairs wear and tear from vehicles that travel our highways. That is critical for our roads, for our infrastructure, and for our transportation. But the Highway Trust Fund is running on empty. It is projected to run out of money in the next few years. The insolvency of the fund would necessitate a total restructuring of our highway repair system, and it would throw our national infrastructure under the bus. So how do we prevent this from happening? The main source of revenue for the fund is the Federal gas tax, which is a user fee. The money that drivers pay in taxes when they fill up with gas automatically goes toward road construction. But as a smaller percentage of vehicles fill up with gas, a smaller amount of money goes into the Highway Trust Fund. The use of electric vehicles, or EVs, has shot up over the last several years, and, of course, EVs don't use gas.…
