Facing the Future of Transportation Finance: Challenges and Opportunities in a New Century

This paper describes how the nation and states are facing dramatic shortfalls in transportation revenues, the depth of which mark a turning point in the 80-year history of transportation finance. Fundamental reform is needed because the transportation system cannot be maintained, much less expanded, under current financing arrangements. The history of transportation finance illustrates that user financing is essential to assure both efficiency in system performance and equity in terms of sharing the burdens of payment. User fees also provide a path toward environmental sustainability. The history of user financing, going back to the beginning of the motor fuel tax before 1920, holds the key to solutions that are relevant 100 years later. While motor fuel taxes have served well, they are indirect user fees, and new technology enables us to gradually institute far more direct systems of user financing over the coming 20 years. Reliance on general taxes for transportation, such as local option sales taxes, are currently popular, but they are only useful in the short term as a transition to a system more fully based on direct user financing.

• Record URL:
  • http://www.intrans.iastate.edu/pubs/midcon2009/WachsFinance.pdf
• 
• Supplemental Notes:
  • The paper was originally published in Issues in Science and Technology, Summer 2009.
• Corporate Authors:

  Iowa State University, Ames

  Institute for Transportation
  Ames, IA  United States  50010-8664
• Authors:
  • Wachs, Martin
• Conference:
  • 2009 Mid-Continent Transportation Research Symposium
  • Location: Ames Iowa, United States
  • Date: 2009-8-20 to 2009-8-21
• Publication Date: 2009

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Web
• Features: Figures;
• Pagination: 4p
• Monograph Title: Proceedings of the 2009 Mid-Continent Transportation Research Symposium

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Economic development; Economic factors; Financial analysis; Fuel taxes; Revenues; Sales tax; Sustainable development
• Subject Areas: Finance; Highways; I10: Economics and Administration;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01139671
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Sep 18 2009 7:07AM