Texas to Study Per-Mile Gas Tax

Texas transportation officials say the study is meant to help give lawmakers information on options ahead of their next regular session in 2011, when they confront a funding squeeze that is expected to drain the highway fund of money for new construction contracts by 2012.

'We need to think differently about how we fund transportation,' Texas Transportation Commission Chairwoman Deirdre Delisi said at a Texas Taxpayers and Research Association forum in November."

Texas joins other states and the federal government in considering the move. Though many in the state concede a transition from a per-gallon tax to a per-mile tax would be politically difficult, fiscal problems within the state could help make the idea more acceptable in the near future.