Paper Details

TRB 91st Annual Meeting (January 22-26, 2012)

Event Number:	733
Event Title:	Addressing Equity in Generating Transportation Revenues
Event Date:	Jan 25 2012 10:15AM- 12:00PM
Event Location:	Hilton, International West
Event Description:
Event Agenda:	In order to meet transportation investment needs, various options for funding must be carefully considered. This session will examine the importance of equity and fairness in the ways transportation revenues are generated, particularly in regard to the distribution of benefits and costs, and how such distributions could be considered appropriate.

Equity Evaluation of Vehicle Miles Traveled Fees in Texas (12-0252)

The Texas state gas tax has been 20.0 cents per gallon since 1991, and the federal gas tax has been 18.4 cents per gallon since 1993. The gas tax is not only stagnant, but depreciating in value due to inflation. Thus, damage is being done to the infrastructure but the money needed to maintain and improve roadways is not being adequately generated. One proposed alternative to the gas tax is the creation of a vehicle miles traveled (VMT) fee; with equity being a crucial issue to consider. This research used Texas data from the 2009 National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) to consider the equity impacts surrounding four VMT fee scenarios. Data were filtered and weighted to reflect results representative of Texas vehicle-owning households in 2008. Each scenario assumed that the VMT fee would replace the state gas tax. Based on Gini Coefficients, the vertical equity of all of the proposed VMT fee scenarios and the current state gas tax were very similar. In terms of horizontal equity, scenario 4 was designed to be inherently horizontally equitable; charging different rates for travel on urban roadways and rural roadways corresponding to funding needs associated with that roadway type. Compared to Scenario 4, Scenario 3, which favors fuel-efficient vehicles, was found to be the least horizontally equitable scenario—causing rural households to contribute the highest percentage of revenue of all scenarios considered. All other scenarios were found to be more horizontally equitable than the current state gas tax.

Authors
     Larsen, Lisa , Texas A&M Transportation Institute
     Burris, Mark W., Texas A&M University
     Pearson, David , Texas A&M Transportation Institute
     Ellis, Patricia , Texas A&M Transportation Institute