Why the crisis? As the article breaks out below, it's pretty simple: the federal gas tax is broken. It's not a percent of the price you pay (which would keep it in line with energy inflation), but a flat tax of 18.4 cents a gallon, which hasn't been raised in twenty years (it was raised during the Reagan, GHW Bush, and Clinton administrations, but not since then), even while construction costs have continue to rise and the highway infrastructure has aged.
It gets worse: people aren't driving as much (due to higher gasoline costs) and the cars they are driving are increasingly fuel-efficient. That means less hits against that 18.4 cents.
Another claimed contributing (though mitigated) factor is that a proportion of the gas tax (3.5 cents) goes to a federal mass transit fund, which was signed into law by Reagan. The idea was that expanded and more-used mass transit would reduce the impact on highways, which may well be the case. That doesn't impact trucking, but diesel fuel is a separate tax (22.4 cents per gallon). Some folk who aren't in a position to use mass transit argue that the whole fund should be put into highway maintenance (those are usually, though not always, the same people who think mass transit is a Marxist plot to take away our pickup trucks), though it's worth noting that the monies haven't been diverted by evil commies like Reagan into mass transit, but that increases included a component for mass transit.
Congress has fiddle-farted over what to do about all of this for a couple of decades now (the trust fund has already been rescued by General Revenue transfers a couple of times in that period). Indexing the tax to inflation, simply voting in an increase in the tax, or even shifting to a less variable (but more contentious) mileage tax, have all been discussed. The problem is, when the only alternatives acceptable to one party are "Let it shut down," "We should have a gas tax holiday," or "We'll add funding if we can make it up with food stamp money," the problem doesn't seem very solvable.
Maybe all those Big Businesses that depend on federal highways and bridges to actually, y'know, move their goods across the country, might want to chime in soon.
(Obligatory Disclosure: I work for a company that is involved in both highway and mass transit construction.)
Why the Highway Trust Fund is running out of money, in 5 graphs
Less, more efficient driving is a big problem for highway revenue.
I didn’t realise that it was fixed at 18 cents for 20 years – goes up yearly here. I’m sure I’ve seen the Federal Government taxes blamed for petrol rises.
Years ago, Dave, the landlord of my local always had the same reason when beer prices went up “Well its the tax.” The Chancellor only sets taxes once a year, but always “Taxes” for price increases!
@LH – Of course the Federal Government has been blamed for gasoline prices being so high. Because government!
(One element of confusion is that there are also state taxes on gasoline, which can be increasing. In some states, the breakdown of taxes on gasoline is shown at the pump.)