By Bill Cameron, WLS-AM News

(CHICAGO)  At tonight’s State of the Union Address, President Trump is expected to talk up a $1.7 billion infrastructure initiative.

How to pay for it is the big question. Chicagoland’s mass transit leader, Chairman Kirk Dillard of the RTA, says a gas tax increase is part of the answer.

“The federal gas tax hasn’t been changed since 1993,”says Dillard, “It has 60% of the buying power because it’s a flat tax. And at the state level, it’s around 1990ish.”

But it’s an election year, and it’s very hard to find a congressman willing to increase the gas tax.

@ 2018 WLS-AM News