Better Roads Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/85902
by John Latta, Tina Grady Barbaccia and Mike Anderson RoadWorks Inside the highway and bridge industries When I'm 64 this: I A new 50-state report reveals that state governments are losing out on more than $10 billion in transportation revenue every year, contributing to an estimated $130 billion drain on the economy that results from higher vehicle repair costs and travel time delays. The report, from the Institute on Tax- ation and Economic Policy (ITEP), says state lawmakers reluctant to update gas taxes have cost their states, on average, $201 million in annual revenues. It also shows that the average state has not in- creased its gas tax rate in over a decade, and 14 states have gone 20 years or longer without an increase. Adjusting for construction cost growth, the average state's gasoline tax rate has effectively fallen by 20 percent, or 6.8 cents per gallon, since the last time it was raised, says the report. Diesel taxes have fallen by a similar 18 percent, or 6.0 cents per gallon. "It's basic math," says ITEP Senior Analyst Carl Davis. "The road repairs you could buy in 1990 with 20 cents, for example, are going to cost 34 cents to- 4 January 2012 Better Roads day. But we still see some states collect- ing the same flat 20-cent tax that they did back in 1990. That's the definition of unsustainable." The report, Building a Better Gas Tax: How to fix one of state government's least sustainable revenue sources, offers three policy recommendations for modern- izing state gas taxes: 1. Increase gas tax rates to (at least) re- verse their long-term declines. 2. Restructure state gas taxes so that their rates rise automatically alongside the inevitable growth in the cost of transportation construction projects. 3. Create or enhance targeted tax credits for low-income families to offset the impact of gas tax reform. Find the full report at http://www.itepnet. org/bettergastax/bettergastax.pdf Editor's Note: The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (itepnet.org) describes itself as is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organiza- tion that works on federal, state and local tax policy issues. f you own roads, design roads, plan roads or have to work out how to manage them, consider Florida is home to one of the highest percentages of residents aged 65 and older in the United States. But very few of them have thought about their future behind the wheel. In fact, 13 percent of older driver re- spondents to a new survey developed by Florida State University (FSU) and the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) indicated they would not stop driving at all, with 3 percent expressing the opinion that they would die before they would stop driving. Older drivers are at a disproportionate risk for being involved in a fatal vehicular crash, according to John Reynolds, the Eagles Professor of Sociology at Florida State and director of the university's Pep- per Institute on Aging and Public Policy. Among the findings, according to FSU: • Most older drivers don't plan for a future day when they may be unable to drive safely. Eighty-three percent of survey respondents aged 65 and older, and 92 percent of 50- to 64-year-olds, report that they have no "transportation retirement plan." Very few (slightly under 4 percent) plan to use a community driver pro- gram or paratransit service. • Many aging road users see no alter- natives to driving in their communi- ties. Forty percent of respondents aged 65 and older reply that they ride with family or friends, 26 per- cent say they walk, and 15 percent say there is no other way to get around other than driving.