View/Download this article in PDF format.

Senate leadership is busy patting themselves on the back in the wake of Senate Finance Committee approval of a slate of “pay-fors” to help fund the proposed 2-year $109 billion MAP-21 transportation reauthorization bill. Before anyone gets swept up in their (irrational) exuberance, however, we’d like to point out that this transportation bill would not be funded entirely with gasoline tax revenues, nearly the sole source of transportation revenue for at least five decades. Instead, recent declines in gas tax collections and Congress’ desire to spend more than what will be collected has led them to poach additional sources of revenue.