States Raise Gas Taxes to Pay for Infrastructure - As Congress Only Takes Short-Term Steps, Governors Seek More Funds for Roads

From The Wall Street Journal:

States and cities desperate to build and repair roads and other infrastructure—but frustrated by inertia in Congress—are raising their own levies and turning to private companies for funding.

Six states and the nation's capital have raised gasoline taxes in the past year to pay for highway construction. A handful of other states, including this small coastal state [Delaware] looking to kick-start its dormant economy, are weighing similar moves.

Before this burst, no state had raised its gas tax for nearly four years, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a nonprofit research group.

The local efforts come after years of failed lobbying by local lawmakers for Congress to raise the 18.4 cent-a-gallon federal gasoline tax, long the country's biggest source of revenue for highway and transit construction. Congress hasn't boosted the tax in 21 years due to partisan differences and public opposition. As a result, gas-tax revenues have far lagged behind prices for highway-construction materials and labor.