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Expired tax credits worth hundreds of millions of dollars to the trucking industry and fuel producers hang in the balance as Congress meets for a lame-duck session that could be contentious or productive.

While Congress continues to punt on the nation’s long-term road-funding crisis, interest in vehicle-mileage taxes to augment or replace fuel taxes is growing among states.    

Truckers buying fuel in Connecticut will get a bit of a break starting July 1 when the state tax on diesel drops 0.4 cents per gallon.

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon (D) announced he is putting the proposed constitutional amendment to raise the sales tax to pay for transportation on the Aug. 5 primary election ballot.

American Trucking Associations said it would support such measures as a tax on crude oil, a national highway fee on cars and trucks and repatriation of corporate profits held overseas to pay for highways, given the transportation funding crisis and Congress’ refusal to raise fuel taxes.    

Michigan lawmakers last week continued to wrestle with a transportation funding plan that would replace the state’s per-gallon tax on gasoline and diesel with a wholesale sales tax on fuel.