HB1461 allows the Indiana Department of Transportation to request a waiver from the Federal Highway Administration to implement toll lanes on any interstate highway within its borders.
The Senate passed HB1461 on April 15, 2025, by a vote of 38 to 10. We have assigned pluses to the nays because tolling interstate highways exposes Americans to an egregious form of multiple taxation. Interstate highways should be either toll-funded or tax-funded, not both. While federal funding, largely derived from individual income taxes, typically covers up to 90 percent of the costs of the interstate highway system, Indiana also imposes a state income tax on its residents, on top of personal property taxes. Hence, there is no justification for charging tolls on public-access roads already built or maintained by taxpayers when lawmakers could cut millions—even billions—of dollars that are recklessly spent annually on unnecessary and unconstitutional programs which exist entirely outside the limited role and scope of government (e.g., Medicaid).
