Lenahan O’Connell

Improving Revenue Adequacy by Indexing the Gas Tax to Indicators of Need A Simulation Analysis

The current crisis in highway finance in the United States is mostly driven by greater vehicle fuel efficiency, substantial rises in construction costs and automobile use, and fixed per gallon fuel tax rates that do not increase with inflation. These factors give rise to questions about the adequacy of the gasoline tax (or gas tax) structure to generate sufficient revenue. We argue that the public will be more willing to increase the gas tax if it is restructured to be directly connected to measures of need and is adjusted upward in small, regular increments. We examine how state variable-rate fuel taxes, by incrementally adjusting the gas tax rate on a regular basis, would affect gas tax revenues. This is done by simulating gas tax revenues given different adjustment formulas for the gas tax rate (based on changes in construction costs, general inflation, and improvements in fuel efficiency), and comparing gas tax revenues to determine revenue-generating capacity of variable-rate approaches.

Paying for Infrastructure in an Urban Environment: Roles of Ideological Beliefs and Self-Interest in Support for Two Funding Mechanisms

This study examines public preferences for two revenue options—fuel taxes and tolls—to finance transportation infrastructure in an urban area with the use of the results of a survey of residents of the Hampton Roads region of southeastern Virginia. Specifically, the study addresses two related research questions: (a) To what extent do residents support instituting tolls, increasing the fuel tax, or both? (b) What roles do self-interest and ideological beliefs play in support of increasing the fuel tax, imposing tolls, or doing both? The study finds that 50% of respondents expressed a willingness to support fuel taxes or tolls for infrastructure, 29% for increasing fuel taxes, and 28% for tolls, with 7% supporting both revenue options. The study also finds that the support for each funding source is associated with a different set of ideological beliefs and self-interest factors. Implications for generating public support for increases in revenue and funding for transportation facilities are discussed.

Becoming More Complete: The Diffusion and Evolution of State-Level Complete Streets Policies

The complete streets movement calls for streetscapes designed for safe and convenient walking, biking, and transit usage by all residents including children, the elderly, and the disabled. This study reviews state-level complete streets policies. Our research questions are: (1) In what ways do the states with a complete streets policy differ from the states without one? (2) Have complete streets policies become more comprehensive over time? (3) Does the type of policy—a law passed by a state legislature versus an executive-level policy—change the comprehensiveness of the policy? We find that urbanized states are more likely to have complete streets policies. Diffusion of the policy appears weakly associated with adjacency of adopting states. The type of policy was related to the comprehensiveness of early complete streets policies, but the differences diminish as these policies have gained traction in recent years. Over time, state-level complete streets policies have become more comprehensive in content.

Outsourcing Expert Services by State Transportation Departments A Look at Effects on Cost, Quality, and Changing Employment Levels

Privatization has increasingly become a policy option for government agencies struggling to meet rising demands for services but with fewer resources. In the transportation arena, many state departments of transportation (DOTs) have privatized by outsourcing highway functions to the private sector. But the outsourcing of technical and expert services such as those related to the design and construction of highway infrastructure may result in a smaller or less knowledgeable DOT workforce that is unable to perform the necessary contract management to ensure the quality of the work done by contractors. We posit an outsourcing process in which DOTs respond to the combination of increased demand for highway services and growing workforce constraints by contracting out much of the work formerly performed by in-house personnel. This, in turn, can produce perceptions of quality problems regarding the outsourced work and a subsequent expansion of the workforce. We examine the extent to which different highway-related tasks are being outsourced, the effect of workforce and employment factors on outsourcing, the perceptions of highway officials regarding the impact of outsourcing on cost-effectiveness and the service quality of the outsourced work, and subsequent employment levels.

The Effects of Discussion and Information on Public Support for Tax and Fee Increases for Transportation

This research note compares the effect on willingness to raise taxes and government fees of three common approaches to public consultation: (a) a telephone survey with no information or discussion, (b) a focus group with discussion but no information relating need to the proposed tax or fee, and (c) a focus group with discussion and such information. Our purpose is twofold: (a) illustrate the contribution of pertinent information to public acceptance of tax or fee increases, and (b) suggest a more comprehensive and informative approach to consultation with the public. We do so using the examples of raising the gas tax and vehicle registration fees. The results show that the combination of information and discussion produces the greatest level of support for both revenue enhancing options. Implications for presenting proposals to raise taxes and fees are discussed.

Two Models of Teacher Accountability Toward an Explanation for the Disappointing Results of Some Market-Based School Reforms

Accountability is a pivotal concern of applied social science. This article asserts that in many situations a full explanation of the sources of accountability requires the application of concepts from sociology and management science, in addition to those from the market-based approaches inspired by economics. The article describes the market-based approach to accountability exemplified by agency theory, applies it to school reform and derives several predictions about the likely success of market-based approaches to school reform, and documents the lack of evidence supporting the contention that programs for school choice will markedly improve teacher work effort and performance (as measured by student test scores). The social actor approach, rooted in sociological and management theories, is introduced and used to describe the pressures and norms operating in the public schools that foster accountability even in the absence of competition between schools for students. The article concludes with some implications for practice and research on public sector accountability.

Kentucky’s Program for Traffic Safety Records Performance Measurement

Increasing highway safety is a critical transportation policy priority. To further that goal, NHTSA released a set of model performance measures for state traffic records databases, although states are free to develop their own metrics. This paper presents the results of Kentucky’s program to develop metrics to measure the performance attributes of its traffic records databases (timeliness, accuracy, completeness, consistency and uniformity, integration, and accessibility). After a brief discussion of the complex nature of the traffic records database system, Kentucky’s performance measurement program is described. Differences across the databases in obtaining useful information are noted, and implications are identified for database improvements. The paper documents advances in data accuracy, timeliness, and completeness. Findings are then connected to the broader effort to improve traffic records databases, including the construction of effective traffic records strategic plans.

How effective is the international fuel tax agreement as a multistate tax administration model? A view from the states

The International Fuel Tax Agreement (IFTA) was established to reduce the complexities of reporting, allocating, and collecting diesel fuel taxes from interstate commercial carriers operating in multiple jurisdictions. This paper examines IFTA’s effectiveness as a multistate tax administration model from the perspective of the states. We identify three criteria of effectiveness and use a survey of IFTA officials in the member states and provinces as well as additional data provided by IFTA, Inc to assess IFTA’s effectiveness. We conclude that (1) IFTA promotes inter-jurisdictional cooperation and revenue transfers; (2) carriers do not locate disproportionately in low tax jurisdictions; and (3) IFTA’s audit system, which relies on carrier record-keeping, may not be effectively preventing tax evasion.