By Sid Salter
Columnist
Both the Mississippi State Senate and the Miss. House of Representatives have passed
measures designed to increase funds to maintain the state’s roads and bridges.
The plans differ in that under the Senate proposal, an additional 3 cents per year for 3
years (9 cents total by 2027) indexed for inflation. Senate leader estimated the increase
would generate about $212 million a year for MDOT.
On the other end of the State Capitol, House Bill 1 also contained new revenue for
roads and bridges by adding a 5-cent sales tax on top of the excise tax. (This means
that on a $3 gallon of gas, a consumer would pay 36.8 cents in federal and state excise
taxes, plus 15 cents in sales tax by 2026). The estimated additional MDOT revenue
under the House plan is between $300-$400 million.
Lawmakers have come to this fork in the state’s roads before. There’s not a lot of
serious debate that the state’s roads and bridges need more maintenance and
construction funds, and that current federal and state fuel tax revenues aren’t working
as fuel consumption decreases with improved mileage and the evolution of electric
vehicles.
The federal and state fuel tax system is failing on several fronts — Mississippi’s 18.4
cents per gallon (CPG) state gas tax is a flat tax. When we paid $3.965 a gallon for gas
in 2008, the tax was 18.4 CPG. When we pay $2.68 per gallon at the pump this week,
the state tax is still 18.4 CPG.
The only way the state takes in more revenue in gas taxes is for the volume of gas
consumed to increase — and automobiles are now manufactured to require less fuel
consumption than a decade ago.
The federal fuel tax is likewise 18.4 cents per gallon and hasn’t changed since 1993.
Neither the federal nor state fuel taxes have kept pace with inflation. Indexed for
inflation, both federal and state fuel tax rates would be 33.4 CPG each and far closer to
actually funding what’s needed to build and adequately maintain the national and state
highway infrastructures.

Congress and the Mississippi Legislature face the same problems in raising highway
funds from fuel taxes at current rates. Fuel consumption is flat-to-declining and fuel
efficiency continues to improve, so as we drive less and get more miles to the gallon,
the federal and state gas taxes don’t raise enough revenue to sustain the current
transportation infrastructure or to expand and improve it.
In the Biden administration, former U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg offered
the concept of including a vehicle mile traveled or VMT tax component as a means to
pay for former President Biden’s massive national infrastructure proposal.
Simply put, the VMT tax would raise transportation funds from the taxpayers by levying
a tax on how many miles someone travels rather than how much gasoline they pump —
which is the present system through federal and state gasoline taxes.
Urban “blue” states embraced the VMT plan while it was widely panned by rural “red”
states across the South and the Midwest — where rural taxpayers routinely drive long
distances daily to work, to seek education or medical care, and engage in farm-to-
market commerce.
Other concerns on both sides of the VMT debate include the practical exemption that
drivers of electric cars enjoy from gasoline taxes. Not fair, say libertarian advocates.
There are also fairness concerns about the disparities between those who can afford
newer, more fuel-efficient cars compared to those driving older, less fuel-efficient
vehicles.
One key factor for rural Americans is the lack of public transportation as an alternative
to driving. Massachusetts, with 6.89 million people, has a statewide public
transportation system. Per capita VMT in Massachusetts in 2017 was 9,130. In New
York state, with 8.4 million people, there are over 100 public transit systems. Per capita
VMT in New York state was 6,316 in 2017.
Mississippi, with just over 3 million people, has an extremely limited public transit
system that is primarily a bus system that benefits senior citizens, those with disabilities,
students, employees, and those with few mobility options. Per capita, VMT in
Mississippi was 13,673 in 2017.
State fuel tax comparisons show that the time has come for an increase in Mississippi if
motorists care about the quality and efficiency of our infrastructure. While we pay

$0.184 per gallon (lowest in the nation) in state fuel tax here, Alabama pays $0.302,
Tennessee pays $0.274, Arkansas pays $0.25, and Louisiana pays $0.2093.
Sid Salter is a syndicated columnist. Contact him at sidsalter@sidsalter.com.