January 3, 2014 Gasoline Taxes and User Fees Pay for Only Half of State & Local Road Spending Joseph Bishop-Henchman Joseph Bishop-Henchman Print this page Subscribe Support our work Download Fiscal Fact No. 410 Gasoline Taxes and User Fees Pay for Only Half of State & Local Road Spending A key issue for state governors and legislators is how to pay for transportation expenses. In the last year, Virginia and Massachusetts raised a number of taxes for transportation purposes, a handful of states raised gasoline taxes, Oregon began testing a “vehicle mileage tax” (VMT) pricing system, and other states proposed new or expanded toll roads.[1] The lion’s share of transportation funding should come from user fees (amounts a user pays directly for a service the user receives, such as tolls) and user taxes (amounts a user pays, based on usage, for transportation, such as fuel and motor vehicle license taxes).[2] When road funding comes from a mix of tolls and gasoline taxes, the people that use the roads bear a sizeable portion of the cost. By contrast, funding transportation out of general revenue makes roads “free,” and consequently, overused or congested—often the precise problem transportation spending programs are meant to solve. Nationwide in 2011, highway user fees and user taxes made up just 50.4 percent of state and local expenses on roads. State and local governments spent $153.0 billion on highway, road, and street expenses but raised only $77.1 billion in user fees and user taxes ($12.7 billion in tolls and user fees, $41.2 billion in fuel taxes, and $23.2 billion in vehicle license taxes).[3] The rest was funded by $30 billion in general state and local revenues and $46 billion in federal aid (approximately $28 billion derived from the federal gasoline tax and $18 billion from general federal revenues or deficit financed). The ratios do not improve when adding in all transportation modes. In 2011, state and local governments spent $58.7 billion on mass transit, $22.7 billion on air transportation facilities, $1.6 billion on parking facilities, and $5.2 billion on ports and water transportation, in turn raising $13.2 billion in mass transit fares, $18.8 billion in air transportation fees, $2.2 billion in parking fees and fines, and $4.2 billion in water transportation taxes and fees.[4] While state and local governments generated surplus revenue from parking facilities and fines, no transportation mode was free of subsidy (see Table 1). Table 1: User Fees and User Taxes as a Percent of State-Local Transportation Spending, 2011 Transportation Mode User Fees as a Share of Total State & Local Spending on the Mode User Taxes as a Share of Total State & Local Spending on the Mode User Fees & User Taxes as a Share of Total State & Local Spending on the Mode Parking Facilities 137.5% n/a 137.5% Air Transportation * * 82.8% Sea and Inland Ports * * 80.8% Mass Transit 22.5% n/a 22.5% Highways, Streets, and Roads 8.3% 42.1% 50.4% Total, All Transportation Modes 21.1% 26.7% 47.8% Source: U.S. Census Bureau, State and Local Government Finance 2011. *Data separating state and local water and air transportation revenues into fees and taxes is not available so are presented here as aggregated. With Americans driving approximately 3 trillion miles each year, total road spending by state and local governments equates to an average of 5.1 cents per mile driven. To cover these costs, Americans paid an average of 0.4 cents per mile in tolls and user fees, 1.4 cents in state fuel taxes, and 0.8 cents in vehicle license taxes. The remaining 2.5 cents was covered by general state and local revenues (1.0 cent) and federal aid (0.9 cents derived from the federal gasoline tax and 0.6 cents derived from general federal revenues). Table 2 lists the proportion of road spending covered by user fees and user taxes by state. Delaware, Hawaii, Florida, and California do the best, raising about two-thirds or more of their transportation spending from user fees and user taxes. While these states’ commuters and visitors may gripe about high tolls and gasoline taxes, users are helping pay for services that they are themselves using. By contrast, Alaska, South Dakota, Wyoming, and Louisiana raise little of their transportation spending from user fees and user taxes, instead subsidizing it heavily with general revenues. Table 3 lists this information by dollar amount, and Table 4 lists this information per capita. Expanding tolls and indexing gasoline taxes for inflation may not be politically popular despite the highly popular nature of transportation facilities and services. Given that transportation spending exists, states should aim to fund as much of it as possible from user fees and user taxes. Subsidizing road spending from general revenues creates pressure to increase income or sales taxes, which can be unfair to non-users and undermine economic growth for the state as a whole. Table 2: Share of State & Local Road Spending Covered by User Fees and User Taxes, 2011 State Tolls & User Fees Rank Fuel Taxes License Taxes Total, User FEES & User TAXES Rank Delaware 48.1% 1 21.2% 9.3% 78.6% 1 Hawaii 0.8% 37 30.2% 46.4% 77.3% 2 Florida 15.1% 6 38.4% 15.3% 68.8% 3 California 4.4% 20 38.7% 21.3% 64.4% 4 North Carolina 0.3% 44 43.4% 15.9% 59.6% 5 Massachusetts 18.2% 5 25.8% 14.7% 58.7% 6 Rhode Island 5.3% 16 36.4% 16.9% 58.6% 7 New Jersey 32.8% 2 12.1% 13.6% 58.5% 8 New Hampshire 19.5% 4 21.7% 16.8% 58.0% 9 Michigan 3.3% 25 28.1% 25.7% 57.0% 10 New York 29.1% 3 14.6% 12.8% 56.5% 11 Ohio 5.6% 15 34.9% 15.6% 56.1% 12 Texas 10.0% 9 28.4% 17.6% 56.0% 13 Oklahoma 9.7% 11 18.6% 26.9% 55.2% 14 Oregon 3.1% 26 22.6% 29.4% 55.0% 15 Illinois 9.8% 10 21.1% 23.3% 54.2% 16 Maryland 12.5% 8 25.5% 15.1% 53.1% 17 Tennessee 0.0% 50 35.4% 17.5% 53.0% 18 South Carolina 4.6% 19 34.4% 12.8% 51.9% 19 Colorado 5.2% 17 26.0% 19.7% 50.9% 20 Washington 6.7% 14 29.8% 12.4% 48.9% 21 Maine 12.7% 7 25.7% 10.5% 48.8% 22 Iowa 0.4% 43 21.4% 24.8% 46.6% 23 Nebraska 3.7% 24 27.7% 14.9% 46.3% 24 Arkansas 1.9% 30 33.9% 10.4% 46.2% 25 Virginia 3.7% 23 24.7% 16.2% 44.7% 26 Kentucky 0.2% 47 32.8% 11.0% 44.1% 27 Wisconsin 4.3% 21 26.9% 12.5% 43.6% 28 Connecticut 0.1% 49 30.9% 12.6% 43.6% 29 Georgia 1.0% 36 32.1% 10.2% 43.4% 30 Indiana 0.2% 48 28.7% 14.2% 43.1% 31 Minnesota 1.4% 34 24.0% 16.6% 41.9% 32 Pennsylvania 9.6% 12 22.9% 9.3% 41.8% 33 Kansas 5.2% 18 24.9% 11.6% 41.7% 34 Montana 1.6% 32 23.6% 16.2% 41.4% 35 Idaho 2.9% 27 23.8% 14.1% 40.9% 36 Arizona 0.7% 38 31.0% 9.1% 40.8% 37 Alabama 0.7% 39 28.1% 10.0% 38.9% 38 Nevada 0.5% 41 26.8% 10.8% 38.1% 39 West Virginia 7.4% 13 30.4% 0.3% 38.1% 40 Mississippi 0.2% 46 25.2% 7.7% 33.1% 41 New Mexico 1.3% 35 20.2% 11.6% 33.1% 42 Missouri 0.6% 40 22.5% 8.5% 31.6% 43 North Dakota 1.9% 29 18.1% 9.8% 29.8% 44 Vermont 0.2% 45 17.9% 10.9% 29.0% 45 Utah 2.0% 28 20.1% 6.7% 28.8% 46 Louisiana 1.6% 33 20.2% 3.6% 25.4% 47 Wyoming 1.7% 31 10.1% 12.7% 24.5% 48 South Dakota 0.5% 42 14.1% 7.0% 21.5% 49 Alaska 3.9% 22 2.3% 4.3% 10.5% 50 District of Columbia 0.0% (51) 9.0% 13.5% 22.5% (49) U.S. Average 8.3% 26.9% 15.2% 50.4% Source: Tax Foundation calculations from U.S. Census Bureau, State and Local Government Finance 2011. District of Columbia rank is for comparative purposes and does not affect other states’ ranks. Table 3: Road-Related User Fees and User Taxes Collected by State, 2011 ($ millions) State Tolls & User Fees Fuel Taxes License Taxes Total, User Fees & User Taxes Total, State-Local Road Spending Share Covered Rank Alabama $16.1 $618.6 $220.5 $855.2 $2,199.6 38.9% 38 Alaska $65.2 $39.6 $73.0 $177.8 $1,692.2 10.5% 50 Arizona $18.3 $774.6 $227.6 $1,020.5 $2,500.7 40.8% 37 Arkansas $26.1 $468.6 $143.3 $638.0 $1,381.0 46.2% 25 California $651.1 $5,705.5 $3,132.0 $9,488.6 $14,726.5 64.4% 4 Colorado $124.9 $622.8 $471.2 $1,218.9 $2,396.1 50.9% 20 Connecticut $1.8 $477.8 $195.3 $674.8 $1,548.4 43.6% 29 Delaware $258.3 $113.8 $50.0 $422.1 $537.2 78.6% 1 Florida $1,235.8 $3,151.8 $1,253.6 $5,641.2 $8,200.4 68.8% 3 Georgia $30.3 $932.7 $296.8 $1,259.8 $2,903.6 43.4% 30 Hawaii $4.4 $170.5 $261.8 $436.7 $564.6 77.3% 2 Idaho $28.7 $239.0 $141.8 $409.4 $1,002.3 40.9% 36 Illinois $694.1 $1,492.5 $1,653.4 $3,840.0 $7,088.4 54.2% 16 Indiana $5.5 $775.3 $384.9 $1,165.6 $2,702.3 43.1% 31 Iowa $9.2 $448.0 $520.2 $977.4 $2,096.3 46.6% 23 Kansas $90.6 $436.9 $204.2 $731.6 $1,755.2 41.7% 34 Kentucky $4.9 $732.8 $246.3 $984.0 $2,231.9 44.1% 27 Louisiana $48.4 $607.5 $108.7 $764.7 $3,014.2 25.4% 47 Maine $117.9 $239.4 $97.7 $455.0 $931.6 48.8% 22 Maryland $367.7 $752.2 $444.1 $1,564.0 $2,945.3 53.1% 17 Massachusetts $467.9 $660.8 $378.1 $1,506.8 $2,564.8 58.7% 6 Michigan $113.4 $975.0 $891.0 $1,979.4 $3,470.4 57.0% 10 Minnesota $48.1 $847.9 $587.6 $1,483.5 $3,538.4 41.9% 32 Mississippi $4.1 $424.3 $129.1 $557.5 $1,683.5 33.1% 41 Missouri $19.4 $719.4 $270.9 $1,009.7 $3,197.7 31.6% 43 Montana $14.3 $209.4 $144.0 $367.7 $888.9 41.4% 35 Nebraska $42.3 $318.1 $171.3 $531.6 $1,147.7 46.3% 24 Nevada $7.7 $376.2 $151.7 $535.5 $1,403.9 38.1% 39 New Hampshire $146.7 $162.8 $126.2 $435.6 $751.5 58.0% 9 New Jersey $1,414.9 $524.2 $587.5 $2,526.6 $4,318.1 58.5% 8 New Mexico $15.5 $239.5 $137.8 $392.7 $1,186.0 33.1% 42 New York $3,212.2 $1,609.4 $1,414.7 $6,236.4 $11,029.3 56.5% 11 North Carolina $12.5 $1,663.0 $608.0 $2,283.5 $3,829.5 59.6% 5 North Dakota $17.9 $170.9 $93.0 $281.8 $945.6 29.8% 44 Ohio $281.7 $1,757.2 $787.3 $2,826.3 $5,037.4 56.1% 12 Oklahoma $233.6 $447.5 $646.2 $1,327.3 $2,403.5 55.2% 14 Oregon $62.1 $454.4 $590.8 $1,107.3 $2,012.5 55.0% 15 Pennsylvania $859.1 $2,064.2 $834.3 $3,757.6 $8,995.4 41.8% 33 Rhode Island $18.3 $126.3 $58.7 $203.3 $346.9 58.6% 7 South Carolina $71.3 $527.8 $196.6 $795.7 $1,532.7 51.9% 19 South Dakota $4.1 $127.4 $63.3 $194.8 $906.9 21.5% 49 Tennessee $1.0 $845.4 $419.1 $1,265.5 $2,388.9 53.0% 18 Texas $1,096.8 $3,108.4 $1,924.1 $6,129.3 $10,939.1 56.0% 13 Utah $36.4 $370.0 $122.3 $528.7 $1,837.0 28.8% 46 Vermont $1.5 $104.7 $63.8 $170.0 $586.3 29.0% 45 Virginia $137.4 $908.0 $594.3 $1,639.7 $3,671.6 44.7% 26 Washington $271.0 $1,205.9 $503.5 $1,980.4 $4,046.4 48.9% 21 West Virginia $96.5 $397.7 $3.8 $498.1 $1,307.2 38.1% 40 Wisconsin $156.4 $989.5 $458.7 $1,604.6 $3,678.8 43.6% 28 Wyoming $12.1 $70.2 $88.2 $170.5 $696.9 24.5% 48 Source: Tax Foundation calculations from U.S. Census Bureau, State and Local Government Finance 2011. District of Columbia rank is for comparative purposes and does not affect other states’ ranks. Table 4: Road-Related User Fees and User Taxes Collected by State Per Capita, 2011 State Tolls & User Fees Fuel Taxes License Taxes Total, User Fees & User Taxes Total, State-Local Road Spending Share Covered Rank Alabama $3 $129 $46 $178 $458 38.9% 38 Alaska $90 $55 $101 $246 $2,341 10.5% 50 Arizona $3 $119 $35 $157 $386 40.8% 37 Arkansas $9 $159 $49 $217 $470 46.2% 25 California $17 $151 $83 $252 $391 64.4% 4 Colorado $24 $122 $92 $238 $468 50.9% 20 Connecticut $1 $133 $55 $188 $432 43.6% 29 Delaware $285 $125 $55 $465 $592 78.6% 1 Florida $65 $165 $66 $296 $430 68.8% 3 Georgia $3 $95 $30 $128 $296 43.4% 30 Hawaii $3 $124 $190 $318 $411 77.3% 2 Idaho $18 $151 $89 $258 $632 40.9% 36 Illinois $54 $116 $128 $298 $551 54.2% 16 Indiana $1 $119 $59 $179 $415 43.1% 31 Iowa $3 $146 $170 $319 $685 46.6% 23 Kansas $32 $152 $71 $255 $611 41.7% 34 Kentucky $1 $168 $56 $225 $511 44.1% 27 Louisiana $11 $133 $24 $167 $659 25.4% 47 Maine $89 $180 $74 $343 $701 48.8% 22 Maryland $63 $129 $76 $268 $505 53.1% 17 Massachusetts $71 $100 $57 $229 $389 58.7% 6 Michigan $11 $99 $90 $200 $351 57.0% 10 Minnesota $9 $159 $110 $278 $662 41.9% 32 Mississippi $1 $142 $43 $187 $565 33.1% 41 Missouri $3 $120 $45 $168 $532 31.6% 43 Montana $14 $210 $144 $368 $891 41.4% 35 Nebraska $23 $173 $93 $288 $623 46.3% 24 Nevada $3 $138 $56 $197 $516 38.1% 39 New Hampshire $111 $124 $96 $330 $570 58.0% 9 New Jersey $160 $59 $67 $286 $490 58.5% 8 New Mexico $7 $115 $66 $189 $570 33.1% 42 New York $165 $83 $73 $320 $567 56.5% 11 North Carolina $1 $172 $63 $236 $397 59.6% 5 North Dakota $26 $250 $136 $412 $1,383 29.8% 44 Ohio $24 $152 $68 $245 $436 56.1% 12 Oklahoma $62 $118 $170 $350 $634 55.2% 14 Oregon $16 $117 $153 $286 $520 55.0% 15 Pennsylvania $67 $162 $65 $295 $706 41.8% 33 Rhode Island $17 $120 $56 $193 $330 58.6% 7 South Carolina $15 $113 $42 $170 $328 51.9% 19 South Dakota $5 $155 $77 $236 $1,100 21.5% 49 Tennessee $0 $132 $65 $198 $373 53.0% 18 Texas $43 $121 $75 $239 $426 56.0% 13 Utah $13 $131 $43 $188 $652 28.8% 46 Vermont $2 $167 $102 $271 $936 29.0% 45 Virginia $17 $112 $73 $203 $453 44.7% 26 Washington $40 $177 $74 $290 $592 48.9% 21 West Virginia $52 $214 $2 $268 $705 38.1% 40 Wisconsin $27 $173 $80 $281 $644 43.6% 28 Wyoming $21 $124 $155 $300 $1,227 24.5% 48 Dist. of Columbia $0 $35 $53 $89 $395 22.5% (49) Total, United States $41 $132 $74 $247 $491 50.4% Source: Tax Foundation calculations from U.S. Census Bureau, State and Local Government Finance 2011. District of Columbia rank is for comparative purposes and does not affect other states’ ranks. [1] See, e.g., Joseph Henchman, Virginia Legislators Approve Increases in Sales Tax, Car Tax, Regional Taxes, Tax Foundation Tax Policy Blog, Feb. 25, 2013, http://bit.ly/1d6FynY; Joseph Henchman, Massachusetts to Have Second Highest Cigarette Tax, Rare Tax on Computer Services, Higher Gas Tax, Tax Foundation Tax Policy Blog, Jul. 26, 2013, http://bit.ly/1hCHo0L; Tanya Snyder, Ten Questions (and Answers) About Oregon’s New VMT Charge, DC Streets Blog, Sep. 24, 2013, http://bit.ly/K0HDag; U.S. Government Accountability Office, Highway Trust Fund: Pilot Program Could Help Determine the Viability of Mileage Fees for Certain Vehicles, No. GAO-13-77, http://www.gao.gov/assets/660/650863.pdf; Michelle Boudin, Controversial toll road planned to widen I-77, NBC Charlotte, Jan. 14, 2013, http://bit.ly/W0pEDs; Lawmakers Criticize Kasich’s Turnpike Plan, WKBN, Dec. 18, 2012, http://bit.ly/W77duH. For state level gasoline taxes in recent years, see http://bit.ly/1fF9eYZ. [2] For state-by-state treatment of the distinction between taxes and fees, see Joseph Henchman, How Is the Money Used? Federal and State Cases Distinguishing Taxes and Fees (Mar. 27, 2013), http://bit.ly/19Bgjcc. [3] U.S. Census Bureau, State and Local Government Finance 2011. Our report this year includes vehicle license taxes in the “user tax” category, which was not the case for our report last year. [4] See id. Topics Center for State Tax Policy Data Environmental, Energy, and Transportation Taxes Research
