The White House on Wednesday praised an experimental program in Oregon that charges a mileage tax to volunteer drivers, adding to signals that President Donald Trump is open to finding new revenue sources to pay for his proposed infrastructure program.
Many of Trump's fellow Republicans, however, dislike the idea of a transportation tax as it would go against the grain of the party's push to lower taxes and could hit Republican-leaning rural areas harder than cities.
In the annual Economic Report of the President, the White House described Oregon — a Democratic-leaning state where environmental issues are a priority for many voters — as a "pioneer" in transportation funding and highlighted its funding initiative, which began in 2015.