Gas Tax
Basics
Why Transit Advocates Aren’t 100% Behind This Senator’s Bold Bill To Slash Highway Funding
A new Republican bill could bring rampant highway overspending to a halt and slash emissions by one-fifth. But don't get too excited because it would hurt transit, too.
March 17, 2026
The Highway Shakedown, Part Two: What Locals Lose When Road Funding Isn’t Distributed Fairly
While lawmakers fight to defend America's "user-pay" road funding system, both federal and state policies have not provided locally owned roads with a fair share of their users’ tax contributions. It's time to change that.
May 1, 2025
Highway Shakedown: How Local Road Users Are Subsidizing State Highway Investments
States across America are breaking the "user-pay" promise. A new report argues it's time to change that.
April 30, 2025
Talking Headways Podcast: How About Road Use Charges?
It's time to really talk about the idea of treating roads as a utility by having drivers pay for every mile.
July 13, 2023
Utah’s ‘Road Usage Charging’ Pilot Could Finally Price the Roads Properly
Right now, drivers pay for their roads through the pump, the tollbooth, and the roadside camera — and it never seems to be enough. Will advanced new technology help them pay their fair share, or increase the subsidy they receive from people who walk and roll?
July 12, 2023
Gas Taxes Are Going Up; What You Are Getting For Your Money?
Not every project funded by S.B. 1 aligns with California's climate goals, but what drivers are paying at the pump is definitely being spent to improve their travel. News media should adapt their headlines accordingly.
July 5, 2023
California Will Continue Funding Projects that Induce Driving, Despite State Policy
California's Climate Action Plan for Transportation Investments calls for putting state funding towards projects that reduce vehicle miles traveled. But CTC approved several VMT-inducing projects anyway.
June 30, 2023
OPINION: The Real ‘Cash Grab’ Isn’t Congestion Pricing — It’s Car Culture
It pays to remember who profits as complainants line up on central business district tolling.
September 7, 2022
Driving is the New Smoking: Lessons From America’s Public Health Victory Over Tobacco
Smoking, once a celebrated totem of American culture, is increasingly an ostracized habit of the marginal few. Getting there, though, took deliberate vision, coordinated efforts, and persistent policy trial and error over decades — and those efforts reveal a partial roadmap for breaking our country’s similarly dangerous addiction to cars.
September 2, 2022
Advocates Decry Proposed ‘Gas Tax Holiday’ — And Offer Alternatives to Ease Pain at the Pump
As President Biden urges Congress to give drivers a gas tax "holiday" that experts say won't even significantly ease pain at the pump, advocates are urging him to give Americans emergency relief from car dependency instead.
June 23, 2022
