EDITORIAL: To solve highway funding stalemate, let states keep fuel tax revenue

There will be a lot of handwringing and fear-mongering surrounding Friday's expiration of the federal government's major transportation funding. Lawmakers and lobbyists are warning of all sorts of terrible things if replacement legislation isn't passed by the end of the week: stalled highway projects, thousands of lost jobs, worsening traffic congestion and deep harm to the recovering economy.

But lawmakers won't tell you the worst part of their potential inaction: You'll keep paying the taxes that fund U.S. transit, even if Congress can't pass a bill that spells out how to spend all that money.

Voters would probably be fine with Congress starting its summer recess a bit early if it meant an immediate 18.4-cent drop in the price of each gallon of gasoline and a 24.4-cent-per-gallon decrease in the cost of diesel fuel. It's not like those taxes, which are supposed to fund highway construction and maintenance, are being used for their intended purpose. They also fund everything from mass transit to sidewalks to bike paths. If lawmakers want to know why highways and bridges are crumbling, they should look in the mirror.

For a time, Congress was considering a substantial increase in fuel taxes as part of legislation that extended the so-called highway trust by several years. The Senate now wants to divert other existing taxes into the transportation bill, as well as reauthorize the Export-Import Bank boondoggle. The House, meanwhile, appears interested only in a short-term extension to give Congress more time to debate broader tax reform.

Under both approaches, motorists will send billions of dollars in fuel taxes to Washington and hope their representatives have enough clout to get most of it back — with strings attached. Making Congress a middleman that redistributes based on political considerations has made America's infrastructure worse, not better.

So here's a better idea for Congress, one that is simpler and doesn't increase taxes: Pass a bill that allows states to keep every penny of federal fuel taxes they collect and decide how to spend it themselves. States know their infrastructure needs better than Washington. Las Vegans, in particular, can't be assured that they'll realize any benefit from a highway trust extension, let alone a federal fuel tax increase.

Break the link between Washington and fuel taxes. That wouldn't be scary at all.