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VMT or not VMT? * USA - Paying by the Mile
The vehicle mileage tax gains traction as a funding mechanism for the Highway Trust Fund
Washington,DC,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online, by R.G. Edmonson -Mar 19, 2009: -- A federal commission wants policymakers and Congress to ponder as they search for ways to pay for maintaining and improving transportation infrastructure in the first third of the 21st century... Before making the switch to the VMT system, it would be better to see how well the highway fund would fare with an increase in the fuel tax, and making sure trust fund money isn’t raided for other purposes, Clayton Boyce, spokesman for the American Trucking Associations, said... Drivers currently pay 18.3 cents per gallon on gasoline and 23.4 cents on diesel fuel. The tax rate hasn’t changed since 1993, but Robert D. Atkinson, chairman of the National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission said, inflation has effectively eroded one-third of revenue. The funding gap has the trust fund on the brink of insolvency. Last September, Congress approved an $8 billion capital infusion from general revenue to keep the fund afloat, but officials said it was only a temporary fix... A VMT rate of 0.9 cents per mile would generate the same amount of revenue as the current fuel tax, Atkinson said. The commission is recommending a rate of 2.3 cents per mile to keep the trust fund healthy and provide all that’s needed to maintain the system...* Truckers’ Slow Lane to Taxes
Washington,DC,USA -The Journal of Commerce Magazine, by R.G. Edmonson -Mar 16, 2009: -- ... Craig R. Lentzsch, vice chairman of the American Bus Association, and a member of the National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission, believes taxes on diesel fuel, truck tires, trailer sales taxes and heavy vehicle taxes are a more reliable short-term source of revenue for the Highway Trust Fund... Fuel tax revenue is expected to decline because of improvements in fuel economy by electric and hybrid passenger vehicles. Truck engine technology will not make the same quantum leaps... Improved fuel economy, coupled with the fact the current federal gas tax has remained stagnant for more than a decade, has taken a toll on federal revenue for road and transit construction and maintenance. The Highway Trust Fund would have run dry last September if not for an $8 billion transfer by Congress to keep it in the black... Congress charged Lentzch’s commission with recommending ways to raise money to maintain and improve highway and transit infrastructure. The commission’s consensus was the U.S. should look at the VMT as an alternative to fuel taxes and see it as the long-term solution to maintaining the Highway Trust Fund... Leslie Blakey, executive director of the Coalition for America’s Gateways and Trade Corridors, said Congress should establish a discrete freight trust fund to provide money for projects using the same criteria as the projects of national or regional significance in the current highway-funding law... Blakey said a new freight user fee should make up most of the funding for the program. The fee should not skew the marketplace in favor of one mode or another, and freight users should see it as value-added...Labels: vehicle mileage tax
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