“But one of the areas that probably has more bipartisan agreement than others is when it comes to highway infrastructure …Our legislature in particular has an incredibly tough time raising revenue from any source. “Getting anything passed is somewhat challenging,” he said. It’s up to the legislature to decide how to fund road and bridge maintenance, he said, but it will take a lot of effort to get these changes through. READ MORE - Pennsylvania’s alternate transportation funding plan ‘dead on arrival,’ legislators say So, just as a function of people buying new cars, somebody that is better off is going to pay less taxes.” Typically, a newer car is going to have better mileage than older car. as a whole, poorer people spend much more of their income on transportation….You’re also not necessarily equitably distributing the payments on a gas tax. “As a con, certainly it’s a regressive tax. Our roadways have serious issues and we need to come up with some sustainable funding mechanism to maintain those roads.”Īltenburg noted there are pros and cons to the present gas tax. They didn’t have people that were focused on some of these broader issues. “They had fairly wide representation on the committee, but they did not have environmental representation on the committee. Rob Altenburg is the Senior Director for Energy and Climate for the environmental group Penn Future was concerned that the commission gave short shrift to environmental issues. When it comes to transportation funding, the most important principle is ‘user pay’ … You want to create a transportation system where the people using the infrastructure are the ones paying for the infrastructure. “How are you doing at spending funds you have? And that’s something that is very concerning to us because Pennsylvania does not rank very well in terms of the quality of our roads.” ![]() “They were not allowed to look at the sending side,” she said. She cited a November 2020 study ranking Pennsylvania below the national average in terms of the quality of its urban roads and above the national average in terms of state spending per lane mile. The issue with the TROC study is that they were only allowed to look at one side of the issue, and that is the revenue side.”įor Stelle, the most important issue isn’t how the money is raised but rather how it is spent. “You want to create a transportation system where the people using the infrastructure are the ones paying for the infrastructure. “When it comes to transportation funding, the most important principle is ‘user pay.’” she said. The panel’s report is now in the hands of the House and Senate Appropriations and Transportation Committees.Įlizabeth Stelle, director of policy analysis for the Commonwealth Foundation, a free-market think tank, said the state should put the brakes on the MBUF until it improves the spending side of the equation. In the meantime, we need bold action to meet the system’s improvement and maintenance needs and to prepare the way for MBUF.” “However, a full MBUF system could be far in the future. ![]() “The Mileage-Based User Fee (MBUF) approach presents the most promising long-term solution for Pennsylvania and nationally,” she said, for aligning transportation revenue with the needs of the system. ![]() Gramian made it clear that she considers the MBUF the most practical long-term remedy to PennDOT’s funding issues. The primary reason for the drop in gas tax revenue is the increase in fuel-efficient vehicles. Additionally, motorists nationwide pay a federal excise tax of 18.4 cents per gallon of gasoline, a rate that has not changed since October of 1993. That puts Pennsylvania just behind California (66.9) and Illinois (59.56). Pennsylvania’s tax on gasoline is 58.7 cents per gallon (75.2 for diesel fuel). ![]() This is a growing nationwide problem as more electric vehicles take to the streets.Īt the end of 2020, Pennsylvania ranked 15th in EVs on the road, with 17,530 registered in the state, according to the Alternative Fuels Data Center.īut the primary reason for the drop in gas tax revenue is the increase in fuel-efficient vehicles. In a letter to the governor that accompanied the report, PennDOT Secretary Yassmin Gramian, the commission chair, said the state must take a new approach to meeting its long-term transportation needs, citing a decline in gas tax revenue. The revenue is intended to not only meet PennDOT’s current $8.8 billion budget, but to also support an additional $9.35 in highway repairs and upgrades, the report said.
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