(if oil companies don’t catch wind and adjust their pricing to take advantage); however, it could be detrimental to the nation’s infrastructure rebuilding efforts.

Suspending fuel taxes is only a temporary fix to high gas prices

Per

The Hill

’s Maya Macguineas, gas taxes are a stopgap measure that could harm more than help by increasing inflation in the long run and depriving the nation of key infrastructure funding.

As Macguineas writes, suspending federal gas taxes do next to nothing in addressing the ever-increasing cost of living that’s putting the hurt on many Americans’ bank accounts. She notes that while inflation grew 6.7% in 2021, it would’ve grown 6.5% if the 18-cent-per-gallon federal gas tax was suspended.

That number also assumes that oil producers and gas stations wouldn’t absorb the savings intended for consumers at the pump. If price-gouging habits throughout the past few decades are any indicator, consumers would likely not see any significant savings before suppliers jacked up the pre-tax cost of their fuel.

Without anything to replace the revenue from those taxes (nearly $20 billion through the end of the year), infrastructure construction and maintenance would be the real losers here.

MORE: Are Gas Prices Rising Because of the War in Ukraine?

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Is U.S. infrastrucure in bad shape?

“Infrastructure” includes roads, highways,

bridges

, railways, water supplies, dams, drinking water, wastewater treatment and much more.

And America’s infrastructure is in shambles according to many experts. The

American Society of Civil Engineers

gave it a C- on its

American Infrastructure Report Card

, noting that wear and tear have left 43% of American roadways in poor or mediocre condition.

Of the country’s 617,000 bridges, 42% are 50 years old or older and 46,154 (or 7.5%) are considered “structurally deficient, meaning they’re in dire need of repair or rebuilding.

What does this mean for the average motorist? According to the

Council on Foreign Relations

, infrastructure failures like bridge collapses, poorly maintained roads and waterways can cost the U.S. economy billions in lost productivity.

Traffic congestion alone can cost the economy $120 billion per year. While the U.S. population has doubled since the ‘60s, the

country’s major infrastructure systems

were not designed to handle the current overwhelming capacity and are at the end of their lifespan.

Per the

ACSE

, failing to invest in infrastructure—the biggest problem being surface transportation like roads and rails—could cost the nation $10 trillion in lost gross domestic product by 2039 if the government doesn’t address it.

The U.S. is behind other developed nations in infrastructure quality, ranking 13th in the world in 2019 per the

World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report

. Compared to other G20 nations, the U.S. ranks 18th in terms of planned infrastructure spending by 2040.

MORE:

Rising Gas Prices Are Driving an Increase in Fuel Theft

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