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A Quiet Revolution in Transportation Finance: The Rise of Local Option Transportation Taxes

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  • Goldman, Todd
  • Wachs, Martin

Abstract

During the 20th century the United States built a partnership for financing surface transportation infrastructure that included local, state, and federal expenditures, and relied heavily on user charges to cover the costs of these investments. This paper examines recent changes in the nature of this partnership that are significant, but rarely noted. Policymakers are devolving fiscal responsibility from federal and state to local governments, by increasingly authorizing the use of local option transportation taxes. This trend substitutes general taxes for user fees and charges, and shifts decisions about major transportation projects into the electoral and legislative arena. These changes have significant implications for our understanding of the future or metropolitan transportation planning, and the ways in which we seek to reconcile transportation investments with other public policy objectives.

Suggested Citation

  • Goldman, Todd & Wachs, Martin, 2003. "A Quiet Revolution in Transportation Finance: The Rise of Local Option Transportation Taxes," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt2gp4m4xq, University of California Transportation Center.
    • Handle: RePEc:cdl:uctcwp:qt2gp4m4xq
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    File URL: https://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/2gp4m4xq.pdf;origin=repeccitec
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Adams, Matthew & Hiatt, Rachel & Hill, Mary C. & Russo, Ryan & Wachs, Martin & Weinstein, Asha, 2001. "Financing Transportation in California: Strategies for Change (Final Draft)," Institute of Transportation Studies, Research Reports, Working Papers, Proceedings qt7fh2v7zd, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Berkeley.
    2. Goldman, Todd & Corbett, Sam & Wachs, Martin, 2001. "Local Option Transportation Taxes in the United States (Part One:," Institute of Transportation Studies, Research Reports, Working Papers, Proceedings qt7j11q63q, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Berkeley.
    3. Ang-Olson, Jeffrey & Wachs, Martin & Taylor, Brian D., 2000. "Variable-Rate State Gasoline Taxes," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt3sj6r3kq, University of California Transportation Center.
    4. Goldman, Todd & Corbett, Sam & Wachs, Martin, 2001. "Local Option Transportation Taxes in the United States," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt2g61665m, University of California Transportation Center.
    5. Brown, Dennis M., 1999. "Highway Investment and Rural Economic Development: An Annotated Bibliography," Miscellaneous Publications 320016, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Dumortier, Jerome & Kent, Matthew W. & Payton, Seth B., 2016. "Plug-in vehicles and the future of road infrastructure funding in the United States," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 187-195.
    2. Michael Lowry, 2010. "Online public deliberation for a regional transportation improvement decision," Transportation, Springer, vol. 37(1), pages 39-58, January.
    3. Phuong Nguyen-Hoang, 2015. "Volatile earmarked revenues and state highway expenditures in the United States," Transportation, Springer, vol. 42(2), pages 237-256, March.
    4. Martin Adler & Stefanie Peer & Tanja Sinozic, 2019. "Autonomous, Connected, Electric Shared vehicles (ACES) and public finance: an explorative analysis," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 19-005/VIII, Tinbergen Institute.
    5. Whitney B. Afonso, 2015. "Leviathan or Flypaper: Examining the Fungibility of Earmarked Local Sales Taxes for Transportation," Public Budgeting & Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(3), pages 1-23, September.
    6. Dumortier, Jerome & Zhang, Fengxiu & Marron, John, 2017. "State and federal fuel taxes: The road ahead for U.S. infrastructure funding," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 39-49.
    7. Delucchi, Mark A., 2007. "Do motor-vehicle users in the US pay their way?," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 41(10), pages 982-1003, December.
    8. Paget-Seekins, Laurel, 2013. "Competing mobility needs: The users, actors, and discourses in Atlanta, Georgia," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 142-149.
    9. Delucchi, Mark, 2007. "Do Motor-Vehicle Users in the US Pay Their Way?," Institute of Transportation Studies, Working Paper Series qt5841z3kx, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Davis.
    10. Delucchi, Mark, 2007. "Do Motor-Vehicle Users in the US Pay Their Way?," Institute of Transportation Studies, Working Paper Series qt2884w7km, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Davis.
    11. Ian W. H. Parry & Margaret Walls & Winston Harrington, 2007. "Automobile Externalities and Policies," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 45(2), pages 373-399, June.
    12. Robert Hannay & Martin Wachs, 2007. "Factors influencing support for local transportation sales tax measures," Transportation, Springer, vol. 34(1), pages 17-35, January.
    13. Matthew Palm & Susan Handy, 2018. "Sustainable transportation at the ballot box: a disaggregate analysis of the relative importance of user travel mode, attitudes and self-interest," Transportation, Springer, vol. 45(1), pages 121-141, January.
    14. Taylor, Brian D. PhD & Kalauskas, Rebecca MA & Iseki, Hiroyuki, 2010. "Addressing Equity Challenges to Implementing Road Pricing," Institute of Transportation Studies, Research Reports, Working Papers, Proceedings qt83r073fp, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Berkeley.
    15. Michael Duncan, 2016. "How much can trip chaining reduce VMT? A simplified method," Transportation, Springer, vol. 43(4), pages 643-659, July.
    16. Lowry, Michael B., 2010. "Using optimization to program projects in the era of communicative rationality," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 94-101, March.
    17. Albrecht, Maxwell & Brown, Anne & Lederman, Jaimee & Taylor, Brian D. & Wachs, Martin, 2017. "The Equity Challenges and Outcomes of California County Transportation Sales Tax," Institute of Transportation Studies, Research Reports, Working Papers, Proceedings qt39q2758w, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Berkeley.
    18. Sciara , Gian-Claudia & Handy, Susan, 2013. "Cultivating Cooperation without Control: A Study of California’s MPO-Driven Smart Growth Programs," Institute of Transportation Studies, Working Paper Series qt1xq050ts, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Davis.
    19. Smart, Michael J., 2014. "A volatile relationship: The effect of changing gasoline prices on public support for mass transit," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 178-185.
    20. Duncan, Michael & Christensen, Robert K., 2013. "An analysis of park-and-ride provision at light rail stations across the US," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 148-157.

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