{"id":651506,"date":"2021-08-16T15:20:52","date_gmt":"2021-08-16T19:20:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=651506"},"modified":"2021-08-16T15:20:54","modified_gmt":"2021-08-16T19:20:54","slug":"fact-check-does-the-bipartisan-infrastructure-package-establish-a-nationwide-mileage-based-user-fee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fact-check-does-the-bipartisan-infrastructure-package-establish-a-nationwide-mileage-based-user-fee\/","title":{"rendered":"FACT CHECK: Does The Bipartisan Infrastructure Package Establish A Nationwide Mileage-Based User Fee?"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ffact-check-does-the-bipartisan-infrastructure-package-establish-a-nationwide-mileage-based-user-fee%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=651506&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/GettyImages-1232147264-scaled-e1628782659547.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p>A post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/johnfleming479\/posts\/10159461616134603\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">shared on Facebook<\/a> over 2,300 times claims the bipartisan infrastructure bill establishes a nationwide mileage-based user fee.<\/p>\n<p><span><strong>Verdict: Misleading<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The infrastructure bill includes language that would create a voluntary pilot program to examine the feasibility of a national mileage-based user fee. It would not establish a new federal vehicle mileage tax.<\/p>\n<p><span><strong>Fact Check:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The Senate last week passed a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package that includes $550 billion in new spending, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/infrastructure-bill-senate-56a178d1-ac1c-4d38-837d-dcff4b7b1773.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Axios<\/a> reported. The package allocates $110 billion to roads, bridges and major projects, $66 billion for rail services, $25 billion to airports and $65 billion for broadband, among other funding, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/infrastructure-bill-senate-56a178d1-ac1c-4d38-837d-dcff4b7b1773.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the outlet<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/johnfleming479\/posts\/10159461616134603\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">viral Facebook post<\/a> alleges, \u201cConveniently buried on page 508 of the 2702 page \u2018Infrastructure\u2019 bill is a national motor vehicle per mile user fee or \u2018MBUF\u2019. This is effectively a way to make driving a car too expensive to the average citizen.\u201d A mileage-based user fee is essentially a tax based on how many miles a motorist drives per year, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/zackfriedman\/2021\/08\/11\/infrastructure-package-includes-vehicle-mileage-tax-program\/?sh=63b3aac431c6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Forbes<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>However, the language of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.epw.senate.gov\/public\/_cache\/files\/e\/a\/ea1eb2e4-56bd-45f1-a260-9d6ee951bc96\/F8A7C77D69BE09151F210EB4DFE872CD.edw21a09.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">relevant section<\/a> of the infrastructure bill makes clear that it actually directs the Transportation Secretary to establish a voluntary pilot program to examine the feasibility of using a national motor vehicle per-mile user fee to \u201crestore and maintain the long-term solvency of the Highway Trust Fund\u201d and to \u201cimprove or maintain the surface transportation system.\u201d The Highway Trust Fund is primarily funded by taxes on gasoline, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/news.bloomberglaw.com\/daily-tax-report\/senators-punt-on-finding-long-term-fix-for-highway-trust-funding\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bloomberg Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The objectives of the pilot program are to \u201ctest the design, acceptance, implementation, and financial sustainability of a national motor vehicle per-mile user fee,\u201d \u201caddress the need for additional revenue for surface transportation infrastructure and a national motor vehicle per-mile fee\u201d and \u201cprovide recommendations relating to the adoption and implementation of a national motor vehicle per-mile user fee,\u201d according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.epw.senate.gov\/public\/_cache\/files\/e\/a\/ea1eb2e4-56bd-45f1-a260-9d6ee951bc96\/F8A7C77D69BE09151F210EB4DFE872CD.edw21a09.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the text of the bill<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The infrastructure bill <a href=\"https:\/\/www.epw.senate.gov\/public\/_cache\/files\/e\/a\/ea1eb2e4-56bd-45f1-a260-9d6ee951bc96\/F8A7C77D69BE09151F210EB4DFE872CD.edw21a09.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">also establishes<\/a> that volunteers participating in the pilot program would get reimbursed by the government for their participation. The pilot program will run from fiscal year 2022 to 2026, according to the bill.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot more than 60 days after the end of each calendar quarter in which a volunteer participant has participated in the pilot program, the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of Transportation, shall estimate an amount of payment for each volunteer based on the vehicle miles submitted by the volunteer for the calendar quarter and issue such payment to such volunteer participant,\u201d the bill <a href=\"https:\/\/www.epw.senate.gov\/public\/_cache\/files\/e\/a\/ea1eb2e4-56bd-45f1-a260-9d6ee951bc96\/F8A7C77D69BE09151F210EB4DFE872CD.edw21a09.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">states<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSection 13002 of the bill creates a national pilot per-mile fee program that would ask people to voluntarily pay per-mile fees,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cato.org\/people\/randal-otoole\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Randal O\u2019Toole<\/a>, a senior fellow at the libertarian think tank Cato Institute, told Check Your Fact via email. \u201cSection 13001 also provides grants to states to create their own pilot programs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"iw\"><span class=\"qu\" tabindex=\"-1\" role=\"gridcell\" translate=\"no\"><span class=\"gD\" data-hovercard-id=\"uboesen@taxfoundation.org\" data-hovercard-owner-id=\"158\"><a href=\"https:\/\/taxfoundation.org\/staff\/ulrik-boesen\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ulrik Boesen<\/a>, a senior policy analyst at the Tax Foundation, echoed O\u2019Toole. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/checkyourfact.com\/2021\/05\/27\/fact-check-dominion-whistleblower-million-votes-switched\/\">(RELATED: Did A Dominion Voting Systems Whistleblower Say 3.8 Million Votes Were Switched To Joe Biden?)<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey want to do a fifty state pilot and they want volunteers but there is obviously no requirement for anybody to participate,\u201d Boesen said. \u201cWhen you do something like this, you maybe think down the line it\u2019s a system that makes sense, but short-term there would be no change.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019re just studying the feasibility of it,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A post shared on Facebook over 2,300 times claims the bipartisan infrastructure bill establishes a nationwide mileage-based user fee.Verdict: Misleading The infrastructure bill includes language that would create a voluntary &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-651506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=651506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651506\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=651506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=651506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=651506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}