Congressional Budget Office Releases Highway Trust Fund Estimate

According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the Highway Account will have $3.3 billion left at the end of FY 2009.  However, a default is possible due to the fact that tax collections in the latter half of September will not appear until FY 2010 and construction activity increases in the summer and early fall.  Should FHWA run out of cash on a day-to-day basis in late August or early September, it would be necessary to go back to once-a-week reimbursements to states. In the long-term, at the 2009 inflation spending levels and current tax law, CBO projects that over the six year 2010-2015 period, the Highway Account is $64.7 billion in the red and the Mass Transit Account is $14.3 billion in the red. Under those estimates, a hypothetical six-year highway bill would have to increase taxes by $79 billion over the life of the bill just to keep 2009 spending levels in pace with inflation.  In addition, any real spending increases will have to be matched by tax increases, dollar for dollar.