Replace gas tax with ton-mile fees (major, electric, green, money)
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It should also vary by time traveled. Many 8 lane highways are used to capacity only six hours a day. The rest of the time two lanes would do. The gas tax hits the peak travelers only marginally (fewer miles per gallon) but a ton mileage tax, with peak surcharge, could make them pay more of their share, or even persuade some to drive in off peak periods.
I think most people are driving during peak hours because of their job, which is why it is peak hours. Very difficult to drive off peak periods when the job dictates the hours.
The HTF took in $37 billion in revenue, mostly from gas taxes compared to $53 billion in expenditures. Of course, not all gas taxes go to the HTF which compounds the problem. About half of the shortfall is due to siphoning off of gas taxes for unrelated things.
It all goes into the government coffers anyway and spent by it regardless of whether it's in the trust fund or not. Won't make more sense to just compare gas taxes to highway expenditures?
As to the OP, it's simpler just to raise the gas tax. It also makes sense to encourage more fuel-efficient with a gas tax. Although, the current gas tax is too small to have much of an effect, adding on average 50¢, about 70¢ max if you live in say NY state or California.
Some people think that the solution is to go to small and lighter cars with great gas mileage. Some areas of the country are more needing SUV 4x4, etc. with studded snow tires. Example we had a bad storm last week, with 11 inches of snow. A 50 mile interstate trip, saw one or two of the small cars people in the cities promote, off of the road in wrecks waiting to be towed every mile or less. On the return trip a couple of hours later, about the same again.
I have seen when on some of the mountain interstate, where that type of car, was off every hundred yards or sometimes less.
We drive different breeds of cars in Montana, due to our driving conditions in the winter. In the last 7 years, I have seen exactly 2 Prius, and saw those in the summertime. We have a Blazer, a F-150 pickup to take to Billings to shop when we want to buy anything large as we don't get local deliveries, and a 2013 Ford Explorer that is needed as a trip to Denver has to be made for medical reasons no matter what the weather every 3 months and it always gets through.
Look at news reports in the north east a few days ago where there were 83 cars in one pile up. You can bet, most of those cars were not the proper car nor had the tires for road conditions.
Where we travel, don't count on having cell phone service when away from cities to call for help. And cars are few and far between sometimes. For that reason, you have to take care of yourself, and drive a 4X4 vehicle with high clearance, and the right type of tires in the winter. I carry a tow strap, and cannot count the number of cars I have pulled back onto the road, that should never have been on this or that highway over the past 60+ years I have been driving.
Those small light cars are good for some people to own and drive, but are not for everyone depending on where they live and their needs.
It will vary by state as to the amount but typically, in addition to highway maintenance and construction, liquid fuels taxes also fund mass transit, bike/walking paths, bike lanes, boardwalks and other non-motor vehicle transportation uses.
Some states, like MD, siphoned off gas tax revenues to balance the General Fund over the last several years. This then created a crisis, especially at the local government level, when planning and paying for new roads or maintenance. These localities many times were required by the State to perform these upgrades with the promise of funding which was then not appropriated.
Soon the OP will chime in about how highways don't pay for themselves through the gas tax so it needs to be raised, with the resultant funds going to mass transit to further subsidize riders such as himself.
MD could find a way to skim off the top of a tax siphoning tax leaving many to wonder where those monies went. Maryland is notoriously crooked as far as politics is concerned.
Leave the gas tax as it is, and implement a tire tax. Tires are a pretty reliable way to figure out how much a person is driving. Heavy drivers need tires more often then light drivers. Bigger tires should pay higher taxes.
It all goes into the government coffers anyway and spent by it regardless of whether it's in the trust fund or not. Won't make more sense to just compare gas taxes to highway expenditures?
As to the OP, it's simpler just to raise the gas tax. It also makes sense to encourage more fuel-efficient with a gas tax. Although, the current gas tax is too small to have much of an effect, adding on average 50¢, about 70¢ max if you live in say NY state or California.
That was my point. The HTF does not receive all of the gas tax money, so saying it has a shortfall of X billion doesn't in any way suggest that gas taxes are X billion short. They're X billion short less the money that is siphoned off that never hits the HTF. About half of the shortfall is because of siphoning, the other half is because gas taxes are too low.
.......... A car that weights 1 ton and travels 7500 in a year causes a lot less road damage than a two-ton truck traveling 15,000/yr......
Granted.
But where does it cause damage? A vehicle based in Texarkana, AR/TX or in Bristol, TN/VA may cause damage in one state, the other, or both. Truckers report how many mile they have driven in each state. Will privately owned vehicles be held to the same standard?
Better option - ton-mile fee. A car that weights 1 ton and travels 7500 in a year causes a lot less road damage than a two-ton truck traveling 15,000/yr.
No, not really. The around one ton variance between passenger car weight is not enough to cause a difference in road damage among them. The biggest contributor to road damage is weather, followed by large trucks (like tractor trailers, dump trucks, garbage trucks, etc).
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