Recent Streetsblog USA posts about Gas Tax

Relying on the gas tax instead of replacing it with mileage-based driving fees could cost Oregon $340 million over 10 years, according to the state DOT. Image: ODOT [PDF]

Oregon’s Pay-Per-Mile Driving Fees: Ready for Prime Time, But Waiting for Approval

By Stephen Miller | Jun 26, 2017 | 13 Comments

Oregon has led the way in developing an alternative to the gas tax, with a pilot program that levies a fee on vehicle miles traveled. While the Oregon Department of Transportation has spent years developing the mileage-based program and is ready to expand it to all vehicles statewide, it's not part of the massive transportation spending package under discussion at the legislature.

Oregon might add a new tax on bike sales as part of a transportation funding deal. Photo: TMimages PDX/Flickr

Oregon’s Transportation Funding Deal Might Make Bikes More Expensive

By Stephen Miller | May 10, 2017 | 23 Comments

On Monday, the Oregon state legislature released a plan to raise about $8.1 billion over the next 10 years by increasing gas taxes, registration fees, and payroll taxes to spend on roads, transit, walking, and bicycling. It also includes a new excise tax on bicycle sales.

Clinton Pledges to Make a Big Infrastructure Push in Her First 100 Days

By Angie Schmitt | May 25, 2016 | 1 Comment

The industry groups behind last week’s “Infrastructure Week” campaign got exciting news today when presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton announced she’s going to make a big $275 billion “infrastructure” push in her first 100 days. An anonymous Clinton aide told the Washington Post: This proposal would represent the most significant increase in infrastructure investment since President […]

Obama’s Politically Impossible Transpo Plan Is Just What America Needs

By Angie Schmitt | Feb 5, 2016 | 35 Comments

It may be “seven years too late,” as tactical urbanist Mike Lydon put it, but President Obama has released a transportation proposal that calls for big shifts in the country’s spending priorities. Obama’s proposal would generate $30 billion annually from a $10-per-barrel surcharge assessed on oil companies. More importantly, the revenue is linked to a substantial shift in what transportation projects get […]

5-Year, $300 Billion “FAST Act” Will Extend Transpo Policy Status Quo to 2020

By Angie Schmitt | Dec 2, 2015 | 2 Comments

They’ve done it. Representatives from the House and Senate have emerged from conference committee with a five-year transportation bill, which is expected to be quickly approved and become first “long-term” bill in more than a decade. The discouragingly-named “FAST Act” is 1,300 pages long, and everyone with a stake in the legislation is still having their policy wonks […]

It’s Time to Stop Pretending That Roads Pay for Themselves

By Angie Schmitt | Nov 25, 2015 | 49 Comments

If nothing else, the current round of federal transportation legislating should end the myth that highways are a uniquely self-sufficient form of infrastructure paid for by “user fees,” a.k.a. gas taxes and tolls. With all the general tax revenue that goes toward roads in America, car infrastructure has benefited from hefty subsidies for many years. […]

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