Kevin McCarthy said that the “reality of politics makes raising the gas tax unlikely” and that it would be difficult to come up with a funding source to pay for five years of highway funding, according to the report. A gas tax increase, according to many transportation advocates, would help pay for an extension of infrastructure funding that is scheduled to expire July 31. The gas tax, currently at 18.4 cents, has not been increased since 1993, and improvements in auto fuel efficiency have made it nearly impossible to sustain funding.
