AN ANALYSIS OF LOCAL TAXPAYERS' WILLINGNESS TO FINANCE TRANSIT

A strong commitment of local tax dollars will be necessary to sustain transit service in many U.S. cities in the 1980s. Limited research has been completed on willingness to pay local taxes for transit. Factors that influenced support for a proposed special property tax millage in Council Bluffs, Iowa, are examined. Council Bluffs is a moderately low income, blue collar community within a metropolitan area of half a million people. An analytic technique known as the Automatic Interaction Detector (AID3) is applied to survey data collected through telephone interviews of 770 households in Council Bluffs. AID3 sequentially partitions a data set on the basis of maximum differences in the means of the resultant groups. Each respondent is assigned to one and only one subgroup. Results of the analysis indicate that home ownership is a major factor in the willingness to pay a local transit tax; home owners are distinctly less willing to pay than renters. Older persons are also less supportive of an additional property tax. Among homeowners, personal transit use or use by another household member is an important factor in support. The attitudes that business within the city is stimulated by transit, that low income persons are enabled to get or keep jobs, and that local government is generally performing well are highly related to willingness to pay a transit tax. The conclusion is drawn that it is important to provide transit service that conforms to the objectives of local taxpayers as well as to demand by users of the service. If these taxpayers believe that transit is making a useful contribution, they are much more likely to support a local property tax to help finance it, even if they are not making personal use of transit.

• Record URL:
  • http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/trr/1983/936/936-008.pdf
• Summary URL:
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  • Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. Publication of this paper sponsored by Committee on Public Transportation Planning and Development.
• Authors:
  • Forkenbrock, David J
  • STONER, JAMES W
• Publication Date: 1983

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 31-36
• Monograph Title: Public transportation and transit operations planning
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Record
  • Issue Number: 936
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0361-1981

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Attitudes; Equity; Local government; Property taxes; Public participation; Public transit; Subsidies; Taxation
• Subject Areas: Finance; Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; Society; I10: Economics and Administration;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00387635
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 0309036526
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Sep 28 1984 12:00AM