Dividing the Federal Pie

Lewison Lee Lem

This year Congress will draft legislation to authorize more than $120 billion in federal spending for highways, transit, and other surface transportation programs for the next six years. A critical issue is how to divide among the fifty states the Federal Highway Trust Fund revenues, which come from federal gasoline taxes and other transportation-related taxes. For the past forty years, apportioning trust fund revenues has been analogous to dividing a transportation pie among the states. With the Interstate highway program completed, Congress must now determine how much each state should receive from the trust fund, compared to what it pays in.

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