Gas Tax
Streetsblog Basics
A Golden Opportunity for Congress to Avoid the Transportation “Fiscal Cliff”
MAP-21 expires in a year and five months. When it does, if lawmakers haven’t already found a solution to the “transportation fiscal cliff,” they’ll have to do one of three things, according to a report issued last week by the Congressional Budget Office [PDF]:
May 1, 2013
Virginia’s Transpo Future: Charge Drivers Less to Build More Roads
Congratulations are owed to Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell. He's scored a victory on his transportation funding plan, cementing his legacy (though infuriating conservatives, including his hand-picked successor). His achievement is being called the first bipartisan initiative to pass in Virginia in decades. And what does this great deed accomplish? Secure revenue to fuel a new era of wasteful road-building in the commonwealth of Virginia.
February 26, 2013
State Budget Includes $625 Million Road Bailout for 2013
For years, Albany has raided the state's highway trust fund, using general tax revenue to patch holes. This year, the governor's budget, as filed in the Senate and Assembly, includes a mammoth $625 million road bailout, larger than the $519 million projected in the financial plan and higher than most trust fund bailouts in previous years.
February 11, 2013
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
GAO: Mileage Fee Could Be More “Equitable and Efficient” Than Gas Tax
While governors debate raising (or eliminating) their states' gas taxes, buzz is building about mileage-based fees, or a vehicle-miles-traveled charge. A House provision to ban U.S. DOT from studying such a fee has gone away (along with its sponsor), while Rep. Earl Blumenauer is trying to get the Treasury Department to look into how it could work. And a new report from the Government Accountability Office says that would be a good idea.
January 14, 2013
House GOP Wastes Time With Bogus Gas Tax Debate
If you've been following the ongoing transportation bill saga, then you know there's a fair amount of gamesmanship going on in Congress right now -- lots of political posturing, little progress on substantive policy. Here's a great new example of what the House GOP has been up to instead of passing a transportation bill:
June 7, 2012
Mileage-Based Fees or Bust: New Report Says “No More Excuses”
The shortcomings of the current gas tax are well-known. The federal rate (18.4 cents/gallon) has not been raised in nearly twenty years and is not tied to inflation, yet it remains the primary source of funds for federal transportation spending. The problem is exacerbated by improving vehicle fuel economy. And as electric cars roll off the assembly line in greater numbers and become the vehicle of choice for more drivers, relying on the gas tax as the primary source of transportation funding makes even less sense.
May 3, 2012
Infographic: When Reagan, the GOP, and Democrats Doubled the Gas Tax
Something to keep in mind while the House GOP leadership toys with the idea of sending national transportation policy back to the 1950s…
March 20, 2012
Flashback: Ronald Reagan Touts Gas Tax Hike, Transit Funding as Job Creators
On January 6, 1983, the icon of the modern conservative movement, Ronald Reagan, signed legislation to raise the gas tax for the first time in more than two decades, devoting a portion of the revenue to transit.
February 16, 2012
Transit’s Not Bleeding the Taxpayer Dry — Roads Are
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Roads don’t pay for themselves.
December 12, 2011