Public Works Funding Falls as Infrastructure Deteriorates<br />And last month, West Virginia passed a package of higher taxes, including an increase<br />in its gas tax, estimated to lift road funding by $140 million a year.<br />In West Virginia, where President Trump on Thursday touted a vague $1 trillion<br />infrastructure plan, public works spending has fallen for five straight years.<br />The federal gas tax, at 18.4 cents a gallon, is the largest source of funding for those projects,<br />but it is not indexed to inflation and has not been raised since 1993.<br />Mr. Trump’s budget proposed just $200 billion in new infrastructure spending, plus unspecified incentives for private investment<br />that it hopes will add another $800 billion over 10 years.<br />Government spending on transportation and other public works is in decline as federal<br />funding stagnates and state and local governments tighten their belts.<br />Chris Spear, the president of the American Trucking Associations, said his group had<br />testified before Congress at least 19 times since 2006 in favor of raising the tax.
