Required increase in fuel mileage will be good for us...right?

Most people at the college level drive or will drive in the near future.  It is how we get to different classes and how we get home to our families.

This article from the Austin American Statesman discusses the future of the government standard for gas efficiency and, in effect, the federal and state gas tax situation.  President Obama and his administration, through working with car manufacturers, are set to up the required average fuel mileage to 34.1 miles per gallon by 2016.  His administration would like to have a 56.2 miles per gallon requirement by 2025.  So, if people are filling up at the pump less, they are not paying as much federal and state gas tax.  About 75% of both taxes go to the Texas Department of Transportation, so without that income, TxDOT will lose billions of dollars a year.  Already, due to inflation and a lack of a federal and state tax increase since the early 1990s, TxDOT has lost almost half of its purchasing power since that time.  The governor and legislatures show no interest in changing the gas tax to a combination of fuel efficiency and inflation, meaning an exponential increase in toll roads in the future. 

Although we will soon get a well needed break from spending so much money on gas, the cuts in TxDOT’s spending may hurt us just as badly.