Buttigieg says infrastructure bill won’t include gas or mileage tax

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said that neither a gas nor a mileage tax will be part of the conversation around President Biden’s infrastructure bill.

Buttigieg, in an interview with CNN on Monday, said “no” when asked if a mileage tax or gas tax will be in the plan. Biden is expected to release the bill, which could cost more than $3 trillion, on Wednesday in Pittsburgh.

Buttigieg also noted in the interview that Biden vowed to not raise taxes on Americans who make less than $400,000 annually. 

A Transportation Department spokesman said on Saturday that the infrastructure plan won’t include a mileage tax. 

Those comments and Buttigieg’s comments come after the secretary said last week that a mileage tax could be a promising way to fund the infrastructure bill.

“The gas tax used to be the obvious way to do it. it’s not anymore,” Buttigieg said on Friday. “So, a so-called vehicle miles traveled tax or a mileage tax, whatever you want to call it, could be the way to do it.”

A mileage tax, or a vehicle-miles-traveled tax, would charge people based on how many miles they drive, while a gas tax is an excise tax on gasoline.

The debate over how to pay for the infrastructure plan will be contentious in Congress with Republicans opposing any tax hikes. The administration is aiming for the bill to pass Congress by this summer.