ARLINGTON, Va. - Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told state highway officials meeting here yesterday that public-private partnerships should be among the options for funding transportation projects, and that he and Obama administration officials have ruled out an increased gasoline tax to shore up the highway trust fund in the near term.
"In a recession, when people are out of work, don't have jobs, the last thing any politician wants to talk about" is raising taxes, LaHood said, following a speech at the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials annual Washington briefing.
Making clear that public-private partnerships are not off the table as an option to help solve what industry participants say is a transportation financing crisis, LaHood said: "It's one of the things ... we need to think about."
House Transportation Committee chairman James Oberstar, D-Minn., and others are cautious about the increased use of P3s.
LaHood also stressed the need for high-speed rail - one of the Obama administration's priorities - and said that although it is "enormously costly," there is "a real yearning [for it] out there from people."
The debate over gas tax increases stems from the fact that the federal share of transportation spending from the highway trust fund is mostly generated by an 18.4-cent federal gasoline tax that has not been increased in more than a decade and is not indexed to inflation.
Critics of the tax say it is counterproductive to rely on a gasoline tax for highway revenues while simultaneously asking Americans to transition to energy-efficient vehicles. Others, including AASHTO, say the tax should remain in the matrix of funding sources for transportation.
"There are ways to think creatively without raising taxes," LaHood said at the conference.
LaHood's remarks come after a hubbub over the weekend stemming from his claim during an Associated Press interview that the Obama administration should consider a mileage tax as it looks for long-term transportation funding sources. The White House strongly rebuked the claim and said a vehicle miles traveled charge is not within its policy. AASHTO has included a VMT charge in its long-term federal transportation policy recommendations.
LaHood's remarks yesterday were peppered with references to the disagreement, and he read dryly from prepared notes after joking about how he would not speak extemporaneously so as to avoid creating headlines.
