What is the Highway Trust Fund?
The Highway Trust Act is a transportation fund in the United States which receives money from a federal fuel tax of 18.4 cents per gallon on gasoline and 24.4 cents per gallon of diesel fuel and related excise taxes. This act holds two accounts to budget the money to. One of these accounts is directed towards road construction, care, and other projects, the second is for mass transit. The original creation of this act was to fund the international highway system, by taxing small increments per gallon of gasoline. The tax would rise however, for diesel fuel, being it is more expensive. in 1982, the passing of the Surface Transportation Assistance Act prompted the sitting 4 cents tax to 9 cents, while also taking one of those to put into the mass transit account. When President Clinton took office, the tax was raised again to 18.4 cents, adding another 2.5 cents to both funds. Since the raise, there has been no intent in raising the tax any higher to this day.