Untangling Transportation Funding

The authors discuss options for transportation funding. They describe a vehicle miles traveled (VMT) based system of financing and also value the federal gas tax. A possible problem with VMT based revenue is that people have been driving less since 2004. As driving continues to decrease a VMT based funding source would also decrease. A benefit of VMT fees is that they would not be negatively impacted by increasing the fuel efficiency of motor vehicles. The gas tax would bring in less revenue with increased use of fuel efficient vehicles. Other options are also explored. The authors favor increasing the gas tax in the short term, until other successful financing measures can be found.