The U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) Cities of Opportunities Taskforce will meet at the Boston Omni Parker House Monday to discuss how transportation and housing policies can improve the state of income inequality, which, in the United States, is greater than in any other democracy in the world.

The measurement used to calculate the gap between the rich and poor in the U.S. since the late 1940s was developed by Italian economist Corrado Gini, who died in Rome on March 13, 1965. Developed in 1912, the Gini coefficient measures inequality on a scale between 0, where everybody makes the same amount of money, and 1, where one person earns all the available income in the country.

In September, the Census Bureau reported a 2013 U.S. Gini index of .481. Massachusetts, with a Gini index of .484, was one of only five states and the District of Columbia the Census Bureau found to have greater income inequality than the national average.

For context, in 2009, the state’s Gini index was similar to the degree of inequality fond in Mozambique, Nepal, and Rwanda. It was about .47 then, which means income inequality in Massachusetts has only grown.

Inequality is even more pronounced in Boston. Last year Bloomberg used the Gini index to rank U.S. cities with the most inequality. Boston and Cambridge ranked 10th and 11th with Gini indexes of .5405 and .5397, respectively.

Mayor Marty Walsh, the vice chair of the task force alongside chair New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, will join USCM Vice President Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake in bringing together 20 mayors from across the U.S. During the meeting, mayors are expected to hear from U.S. Dept. of Transportation deputy secretary Victor Mendez and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who will address income inequality – a problem that has become increasingly hard for politicians to ignore.

In the March 16 edition of The New Yorker, Jill Lepore, author of “Richer and Poorer: Accounting for inequality,” writes:

What’s new about the chasm between the rich and the poor in the United States, then, isn’t that it’s growing or that scholars are studying it or that people are worried about it. What’s new is that American politicians are talking about it, if feebly: inequality this, inequality that.

Simply put, politicians from both sides of the aisle – Democrats and Republicans – can’t ignore the existence of income inequality any longer.

USCM mayors believe transportation policy and innovative housing initiatives could help close the staggering wage gap. During a press conference scheduled for 12:30 p.m. at Faneuil Hall Monday, mayors will call attention to the need for Congress to pass a long-term federal surface transportation law, which is due to expire May 31st. Specifically, mayors are urging Congress to increase resources to the program, and provide more locally-directed funding.

The irony, at least for Massachusetts, is that in November the majority of registered voters voted to repeal a 2013 transportation law designed to help gas tax revenues keep pace with inflation, and also help fund transit related infrastructure improvements.

The findings of a recent nationwide study by Stockton College professor James Avery suggests voters repeal of the gas tax is indicative of a state with growing income inequality. Avery’s study found a strong correlation between the electorate’s class bias and the Gini coefficient: the lower the turnout, the more likely voters are to show a class bias and support for policies that lead to inequality.

The final turnout of the November election was historically low. There were 2,123,349 votes cast out of a possible 4,342,841 registered voters in Massachusetts, or about 48.89 percent.

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