Indiana Road Funding Eyes Tolls

Legislation recently passed in the Indiana House of Representatives contains a number of initiatives aimed at increasing road funding within the State, including exploring instituting tolls on a number of interstate highways. Specifically, the bill directs the Indiana Department of Transportation to seek permission from the Federal Highway Administration to put tolls on I-65, I-70, and I-80/94 after conducting a feasibility study on the toll proposal. Additionally, the bill would raise the State’s gasoline tax by 4 cents from the current 18 cents per gallon and the diesel tax by 7 cents from the current 16 cents per gallon, as well as index them to inflation. The bill also would cut the top State income tax rate to 3.06% in 2025 from 3.23% in 2017, and direct more of the State’s 7% sales tax on gasoline to transportation projects. The bill still needs the approval of the State Senate, which recently unanimously passed Governor Mike Pence’s five-year, $1.4-billion “21st Century Crossroads” funding plan that relies on $240 million of new highway bonds but no new taxes.

FacebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmailFacebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail

About Bill Reinhardt

Editor of Public Works Financing newsletter
This entry was posted in Take Back Infrastructure. Bookmark the permalink.