Highway funding, which relies on gas tax, will be hard hit as fuel sales decline [View all]

As people hunker down at home, with few places to go but the grocery store, congestion has all but disappeared from our highways and freeways.

Because people aren’t driving much, gasoline sales are projected to decrease by more than half during the pandemic.

That means revenue from per-gallon gas taxes also will plummet, and that worries state transportation departments, which rely primarily on gas taxes to fund their highway budgets.

How big of a problem could Wisconsin be facing?

Before the COVID-19 outbreak, the state Legislative Fiscal Bureau projected the motor fuel tax would generate $1.08 billion in 2019-20. That’s more than half of the Wisconsin Department of Transportation’s total annual revenue, which comes to about $1.99 billion.

Read more: https://dailyreporter.com/2020/04/17/highway-funding-which-relies-on-gas-tax-will-be-hard-hit-as-fuel-sales-decline/
(Milwaukee Daily Reporter)