Pete Buttigieg Backtracks on Comments Talking Up a Mileage Tax When Pressed by Jake Tapper

Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said on Monday that a mileage tax is not under consideration for the infrastructure bill the White House is working on.

During a recent CNBC interview, Buttigieg was asked about a vehicle mileage tax and said, “I think that shows a lot of promise. If we believe in that so-called user pays principle… the gas tax used to be the obvious way to do it, it’s not anymore. So a so-called vehicle miles traveled tax, or mileage tax, whatever you want to call it, could be the way to do it.”

He received criticism for those comments, and on Monday CNN’s Jake Tapper asked him about that.

“You said also that a mileage tax showed ‘a lot of promise,’ as a way to help pay for the plan. That tax would charge people for how many miles they drive. Is that under consideration?” Tapper asked.

“No, that’s not part of the conversation about this infrastructure bill, so just want to make sure that’s really clear,” Buttigieg responded, “but you will be hearing a lot more details in the coming days about how we envision being able to fund this.”

“So something of a backtrack on that,” Tapper noted.

He asked the Transportation Secretary about a potential increase in the gas tax. Buttigieg said that’s not under consideration.

You can watch above, via CNN.