Gas tax, the highway trust fund, and the mass transit acccount.

This was worth a read. By Dick Lemieux on February 4, 2020 at 6:02 pm

The last time the USDOT did a subsidy study, drivers were paying more to the Government than they were getting back. The report (link below) says, “Users of the highway passenger transportation system paid significantly greater amounts of money to the federal government than their allocated costs….” That was 16 years ago and things have changed.

https://www.bts.gov/sites/bts.dot.gov/files/legacy/publications/federal_subsidies_to_passenger_transportation/pdf/entire.pdf

 In 2006, the Congress “bailed out” (as you say) the highway account with a general fund transfer that amounted to pennies per passenger-mile.
On the other hand, the same report says, “Passenger rail received the largest subsidy per thousand passenger-miles, averaging $186.35 per thousand passenger-miles….”.

Since 1983, the government has been skimming 15.5 percent of the gas and diesel tax and depositing it into the Mass Transit Account. Between 1983 and 2014, $123.3 billion was diverted. The diversion is now up to $5.0-$5.5 billion a year.

Between 1983 and 2014, $56.7 billion was pumped into the Highway Account from the General Fund. So, you can see that, had it not been for diversions from highway gas taxes to mass transit, the highway account would have been some $60 billion better off in 2014.

Table FE-201 – Highway Statistics 2014 – Policy | Federal Highway Administration
https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/statistics/2017/pdf/sdf.pdf

Sounds good, but the 'pennies per passenger mile makes me pause.There billions of VMT on roads, and so even more billions of PMT. But it would be nice to have an actual number, especially when he compares it to transit...where it gets a bit shady.He says $186.35 per THOUSAND passenger miles, which would be... $.018635 per passenger mile, so also pennies per mile. So we know the magnitude of the two amounts (per PMT) is pretty similar.

Lack of inflation adjustment also questionable. A 1983 dollar is worth about $1.63 of today dollars. So exactly when those diversions took place is of substantial importance, especially over a 1983-2014 span.

Have to get more data and do the math, but recall: general fund transfers to the Highway Trust Fund didn't start until 2007.



I'm only finding data up until 2014-will have to look further.