User Fees

One would expect the Utah Taxpayers Association to oppose county measures to increase general sales taxes by .25 percent to fund transportation programs, so their endorsement of an alternative revenue option, the mileage fee, is surprising.

July 25, 2015 - Utah Taxpayers Association

Eric Jaffe's July 1 article in CityLab has 18 reasons, and not one in opposition. The date is significant as it marks the official kickoff of the Oregon Road Usage Charge program.

July 6, 2015 - CityLab

Transportation for America recaps the first meeting in three years by the House Ways and Means Committee to address transportation funding. Chairman Paul Ryan decried the $63 billion bailout of the Highway Trust Fund but ruled out a gas tax hike.

June 21, 2015 - T4America Blog

Now that voters have decisively rejected a sales tax measure that would have also hiked the gas tax, House representatives have proposed eliminating the state's Earned Income Tax Credit that benefits the working poor to help pay for roads.

June 15, 2015 - Record-Eagle

This St. Louis Patch-Dispatch editorial analyzes the legislature as well as the bill to raise gas taxes two-cent a year for three years, taking aim at Republican House members who will be "automatic no votes." Illinois may also increase its gas tax.

April 15, 2015 - St. Louis Post-Dispatch

While Congress has subsidized the Highway Trust Fund with over $60 billion since 2008, some states may do the opposite, i.e., transfer funds from their gas tax-filled transportation trust funds to the state's general fund to cover operating expenses.

February 7, 2015 - AASHTO Journal

Walker had supported increasing the gas tax and user fees last November, but now that he's being taken as a serious contender for the Republican nomination for president, he's changed his transportation funding preference to increased bonding.

February 3, 2015 - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The greater Bay Area is enjoying a substantial increase in road maintenance funding from local measures, like bonds, city and county sales taxes, and development fees, part of a growing trend in compensating for a shortage of state gas tax funds.

January 27, 2015 - Inside Bay Area.com

Oil prices are at a five-year low with gasoline prices averaging $2.67 a gallon, lowest since February 2010. Furthermore, they are expected to drop another 17 cents to $2.50 a gallon in time for Christmas, so why not raise the gas tax by a nickel?

December 10, 2014 - The Atlantic

Keith Laing of The Hill breaks the news that two influential Republican U.S. Senators predict that the federal gas tax is on its "last legs." It will be replaced with an (unnamed) user fee when the current transportation funding bill expires May 31.

August 25, 2014 - The Hill

The Washington Post editorializes against the use of general funds to fill the Highway Trust Fund shortfall ($18 billion annually), whether they be dedicated funds or offsets, and evaluates proposals from President Barack Obama and House Republicans.

June 6, 2014 - The Washington Post - Opinions

It's time to fund federal transportation like most other nations do—rely less on highway user fees that dedicate funds to highways and transition to funding roads from the general fund, perhaps in the same amount that they contribute to GDP.

June 3, 2014 - The New York Times - Opinion

"What program would you cut to continue the same level of transportation spending without raising the gas tax, e.g. cancer treatment programs, Head Start?," asks Streetsblog USA's Tanya Snyder after reading Sen. Bob Corker's (R-Tenn.) recommendation.

May 29, 2014 - Streetsblog USA

Although its unclear just how much influence the Department of Transportation's surface transportation authorization bill, called GROW AMERICA, will have (if any at all), the bill makes apparent a sea change with regard to tolling of the interstates.

May 1, 2014 - Washington Post

A recent article by Yonah Freemark details the policy agenda of Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, the former mayor of Charlotte and successor of well-regarded Transportation Secretary Ray La Hood.

April 26, 2014 - Metropolitan Planning Council - The Connector

How best to "plug the growing hole" in the Highway Trust Fund which provides the federal revenue for roads and transit: increase the gas tax, new vehicle miles traveled fees, more road tolls, or "corporate tax reform"? All but one is a user fee.

March 6, 2014 - Politico Morning Transportation

Don't ever accuse Rep. Earl Blumenauer of not thinking big. Accompanying his gas tax increase bill, he has proposed a bill to study ways to charge drivers by the miles they drive. One takes care of the funding problem now, the other in the future.

December 5, 2013 - The Hill's Floor Action Blog

They are fees, ruled the court on Oct. 31, overturning a May 1, Portsmouth circuit judge ruling in a major victory for both tolling and public-private partnerships. It allows tolls to fund the Elizabeth River Crossings, VDOT's P3 tunnels project.

November 4, 2013 - Bloomberg

The financial data is clear: BRT costs much less to go further and serve far more riders. Case closed, or is it? The Denver Post editors look at HNTB's cost and ridership estimates for the Northwest Rail Line and offer a recommendation, sort of.

October 11, 2013 - The Denver Post

A new study from the Tax Foundation starts with the premise that user fees - gas taxes and tolls, should pay for road funding. All 50 states are evaluated to see the greatest percentage of user fees. Delaware is rated first; Alaska and Wyoming last.

January 22, 2013 - Tax Foundation