Title: Highway Trust Fund Basics: A Primer on Federal Surface Transportation Spending | The Heritage Foundation
Headings: Highway Trust Fund Basics: A Primer on Federal Surface Transportation Spending
Highway Trust Fund Basics: A Primer on Federal Surface Transportation Spending
Highway Trust Fund Overview
Condition of the Nation’s Roads and Bridges
State Action on Transportation Funding
Proposed Approaches to Address the Highway Trust Fund Budget
Conclusion
Authors

Content: The federal government provides roughly one-quarter of public spending on highways and mass transit, mostly in the form of grants to states. States and localities fund the remainder. [ 3] The trust fund is funded primarily by the federal taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel, which are 18.3 cents and 24.3 cents per gallon, respectively. [ 4] The gas and diesel tax rates have not changed since 1993, and account for 90 percent of the fund’s revenues. [ 5] The remainder comes from taxes on tires, trucks and trailers, and certain kinds of vehicles as well as interest credited to the trust fund. The Highway Trust Fund is divided into two accounts. The Highway Account is slated to disburse about 85 percent of combined spending on roadway infrastructure and other projects in 2015. The Mass Transit Account expends about 15 percent of spending and funds transit projects, such as rail, buses, and streetcars. [ 6] However, at least 25 percent of fuel tax funding is diverted to non-highway projects, which is discussed later in this paper. [ 7]
Budget Shortfalls.