Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said on Monday on CNN’s “The Lead” that a mileage tax is not under consideration to help fund the infrastructure bill the Biden administration is working toward.
Friday on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street,” Buttigieg said, “I think that shows a lot of promise. If we believe in that so-called user pays principle… the gas tax used to be the obvious way to do it, it’s not anymore. So, a so-called vehicle miles traveled tax, or mileage tax, whatever you want to call it, could be the way to do it.”
Anchor Jake Tapper said, “You said also that a mileage tax showed ‘a lot of promise,’ as a way to help pay for the plan. That tax would charge people for how many miles they drive. Is that under consideration?”
Buttigieg responded, “No, that’s not part of the conversation about this infrastructure bill, so just want to make sure that’s really clear. But you will be hearing a lot more details in the coming days about how we envision being able to fund this.”
He added, “Again, these are carefully thought through responsible ideas that ultimately are going to be a win for the economy and need to be compared to the unaffordable cost of the status quo.”
Tapper said, “So something of a backtrack on that.”
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