Buttigieg: A mileage tax ‘shows a lot of promise’

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Friday that a tax on how far travelers go looks like a promising way to fund President Biden’s infrastructure bill.

Biden said during his first solo press conference on Thursday that he will announce the $3 trillion proposal on Friday in Pittsburgh.

The next day, his Transportation head said a mileage tax could be one way to help pay for the plan.

“I think that shows a lot of promise,” Buttigieg said. “If we believe in that so-called user-pays principle, the idea that part of how we pay for roads is you pay based on how much you drive.”

“The gas tax used to be the obvious way to do it; it’s not anymore,” he continued. “So, a so-called vehicle miles traveled tax or a mileage tax, whatever you want to call it, could be the way to do it.”

A mileage-based tax shows a lot of promise, @SecretaryPete says about funding President Biden’s infrastructure package. Revenue generation will most likely come from several different sources. “We’ve got to think big; it’s got to be transformative.” https://t.co/QY1JvWXXOA pic.twitter.com/4R2CD6KaZV

— CNBC (@CNBC) March 26, 2021

Buttigieg also said that the use of Build America Bonds, Obama-era municipal bonds that were subsidized by the federal government, looks sound.

“Definitely a lot of promise in terms of the way we leverage that kind of financing,” Buttigieg said.

The comments come after he urged the House Transportation Committee to make a “generational investment” in infrastructure.

“I believe that we have at this moment the best chance in any of our lifetimes to make a generational investment in infrastructure that will help us meet the country’s most pressing challenges today, and create a stronger future for decades to come,” Buttigieg said this week.