Gas Tax
Basics
Drivers Cover Just 51 Percent of U.S. Road Spending
There's a persistent misconception in American culture that transit is a big drain on public coffers while roads conveniently and totally pay for themselves through the magic of gas taxes. And that used to be true -- at least for interstate highways, a fraction of the total road network.
January 23, 2013
Outgoing AASHTO Director: Assess Gas Tax By the Dollar, Not By the Gallon
When the federal gas tax was set at 18.4 cents per gallon, it represented 17 percent of the cost of a gallon of gas. Now it's barely 5 percent.
January 17, 2013
Bob McDonnell: Everyone Should Pay For Virginia’s Roads (Except Drivers)
In transportation circles, there's an endless debate about how to fund infrastructure. Raise the gas tax? Index it to inflation? Institute a vehicle-miles-traveled fee? Many jurisdictions have turned to property taxes, bonds, and sales taxes as a supplement.
January 9, 2013
Will the Next Transpo Chair Continue Attacks on Bike/Ped Funding?
This is the second of two posts examining Rep. Bill Shuster’s candidacy for the chairmanship of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. Yesterday, we took a look at Shuster's positions on rail and his leadership style. Here we delve into his record on active transportation and the always-thorny topic of funding.
November 15, 2012
What Has President Obama Done to Improve American Transportation Policy?
With the election just days away, it’s a good time to reflect on what the Obama administration has done with transportation policy – and what a Romney administration might have in store. Streetsblog does not endorse candidates. This is an overview of their respective records and a look back at what we know of these two men. We’ll start with President Obama in this post and move on to Mitt Romney in the next one.
November 2, 2012
John Boehner Makes Stuff Up About Gas Prices
Out of thin air, House Speaker John Boehner sent an email yesterday with the subject line, "Labor Day Pain: Gas Prices Have Doubled on President Obama's Watch." As evidence of the "doubling" charge, Boehner links to his own website, where he claims, "The average price for a gallon of gasoline was $1.85 when President Obama took office."
September 5, 2012
Oregon Takes the Next Step in Moving Beyond the Gas Tax
Rep. Earl Blumenauer likes to say that Oregon was the first state to adopt a gas tax and it will be the first state to get rid of it. In 2006-2007, the state conducted a pilot study of alternative revenue collection methods, with an eye toward moving to a better system. This fall, they’ll do another pilot, fine-tuning their process for replacing the gas tax with a vehicle-miles-traveled fee.
August 3, 2012
Getting Over the Privacy Hurdle to Mileage-Based Road Fees
Liisa Ecola is a senior project associate at the RAND Corporation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research institution.
June 6, 2012
From a Reader: Seven More Questions For the Transportation Conference
Last week, I published a list of seven questions I had as the Transportation Conference Committee started meeting. I was examining the politics, not the policy. Turns out some readers wanted to hear more about the policy.
May 17, 2012
With or Without Tougher CAFE Rules, Today’s Gas Tax Is Unsustainable
Would stricter fuel economy rules bankrupt transportation funding in America? The Congressional Budget Office seems to think so, but environmentalists are quick to say that the system was hurtling toward bankruptcy anyway.
May 9, 2012