Browsing by Subject "Fuel Taxes"

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    From Fuel Taxes to Mileage-Based User Fees: Rationale, Technology, and Transitional Issues
    (Intelligent Transportation Systems Institute, Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota, 2011-08) Coyle, David; Robinson, Ferrol; Zhao, Zhirong; Munnich, Lee; Lari, Adeel
    Two national commissions established by the U.S. Congress recommend replacing the current system of funding transportation based on fuel taxes with a new distance-based system of user fees. The State of Oregon has done a pilot project demonstrating a system for transitioning to mileage-based fees by paying the fees at the gas pump. The University of Iowa has conducted pilot tests around the country to determine how drivers respond to a mileage-based fee approach using GPS-based technology. The Puget Sound Regional Council has conducted a test of congestion tolling. Finally, the Minnesota Department of Transportation is testing an approach for collecting mileage-based user charges using commercially available smartphones with built-in GPS devices, in which the charge element is just one of the applications. While there have been discussions among many transportation leaders regarding why fuel taxes are no longer a good way of funding the transportation system, there is by no means a public understanding of why this is so. The public assumes that the taxes they pay at the pump are paying for the system, and that if funding problems exist, they are due to waste and inefficiency. This examination–of the rationale, technology, and transitional issues in shifting from a financing system for surface transportation based on fuel taxes to one that is based on a mileage-based user fee (MBUF) traveled or vehicle-miles traveled (VMT) fee–sets the stage for a policy discussion on transportation-related user fees and lays the groundwork for an extensive public outreach effort.
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    Revenue Choice on a Serial Network
    (University of Bath, 2000) Levinson, David M
    A model to examine the choice by jurisdiction whether to finance roads with taxes or tolls is developed. The idea of decentralized, local control and multiple jurisdictions distinguishes this analysis from one where a central authority maximizes global welfare. Key factors posited to explain the choice include the length of trips using the roads, the size of the governing jurisdiction, the elasticity of demand to revenue instruments, and the transaction costs of collection - which dictate the size and scope of the free rider problem associated with financing. Spatial complexity in this problem results from the fact that jurisdiction residents use both local and non-local networks, and each jurisdiction's network is used by both local and non-local residents. The central thesis argues that, since jurisdictions try to do well by their residents who are both voters and travelers, the effects of a revenue instrument on local residents is a key consideration in the choice of that revenue instrument. Decentralization of control and lower toll collection costs are identified as conditions under which tolls would more likely become the preferred revenue instrument for highways.