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United States. Government Accountability Office. - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Public Transit: Challenges Funding, Investing in Systems, and Coordinating Services
United States. Government Accountability Office., 2014Co-Authors: United States. Government Accountability Office.Abstract:Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) authorized $10.6 and $10.7 billion for fiscal years 2013 and 2014, respectively, for public transit, but did not address long-term Funding. Federal Funds available for FTA's transit programs come from the general Fund of the U.S. Treasury and the Mass Transit Account of the Highway Trust Fund. The Highway Trust Fund supports surface transportation programs, including Highways and transit, and is Funded through motor fuel and other Highway use taxes; however, revenues have eroded over time because federal fuel tax rate stagnation, fuel efficiency improvements, and the use of alternative fuel vehicles. In May 2013, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that to maintain current spending levels plus inflation between 2015 and 2022, the Fund will require over $132 billion more than it is expected to take in over that period. GAO reported that while Congress transferred over $50 billion in general revenues to the Fund since fiscal year 2008, this approach may not be sustainable given competing demands for Funding. For these reasons Funding surface transportation remains on GAO's High-Risk List.
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Fiscal Year 2013 Agreed-Upon Procedures: Excise Tax Distributions to the Airport and Airway Trust Fund and the Highway Trust Fund
United States. Government Accountability Office., 2013Co-Authors: United States. Government Accountability Office.Abstract:Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO performed the procedures contained in the enclosures to this report, which it agreed to perform solely to assist the Department of Transportation's Inspector General in ascertaining whether the net excise tax revenue distributed to the Airport and Airway Trust Fund (AATF) and the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2013, is supported by the underlying records. GAO was not engaged to perform, and did not perform, an examination, the objective of which would have been to express an opinion on the amount of net excise taxes distributed to the AATF and the HTF during fiscal year 2013. Accordingly, GAO does not express such an opinion. This report is solely for the use of the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Transportation and should not be used by those who have not agreed to the procedures or have not taken responsibility for the sufficiency of the procedures for their purposes.
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Information on Materials and Practices for Improving Highway Pavement Performance
United States. Government Accountability Office., 2012Co-Authors: United States. Government Accountability Office.Abstract:Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The nation's more than 4 million miles of roads are key to the economy, facilitating the movement of goods and people. Although Highways are highly durable and can last for decades, they deteriorate from traffic wear and tear, inadequate drainage, construction deficiencies, and weather. Keeping them in good condition requires substantial resources: public entities spent more than $180 billion in 2008 on Highways, with about $40 billion coming from the federal government. Despite these outlays, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) estimates that these Funding levels are insufficient to maintain or improve the condition of the nation's Highways through 2028. Further, the major source of federal surface transportation Funding--federal motor fuel tax revenues deposited into the Highway Trust Fund--is eroding. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that, as of March 2012, to maintain current spending levels and account for inflation from 2013 to 2022, the Highway Trust Fund will require more than $125 billion over what it is expected to take in during that period.
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Fiscal Year 2011 Agreed-Upon Procedures for Excise Tax Distributions to the Highway Trust Fund
United States. Government Accountability Office., 2011Co-Authors: United States. Government Accountability Office.Abstract:Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "As requested, this correspondence discusses our findings on whether the net excise tax revenue distributed to the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2011, is supported by the underlying records. The Department of Transportation's Inspector General is responsible for the adequacy of these agreed-upon procedures to meet your objectives, and we make no representation in that respect. The procedures we agreed to perform were related to (1) transactions that represent the underlying basis of amounts distributed from the general Fund to the HTF during fiscal year 2011, (2) the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) quarterly HTF excise tax receipt certifications prepared during fiscal year 2011, (3) the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Financial Management Service adjustments to HTF excise tax distributions during fiscal year 2011, (4) the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Tax Analysis's (OTA) estimates of excise tax amounts to be distributed to the HTF for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2011, (5) adjustments to the HTF for tax on kerosene used in aviation during fiscal year 2011, and (6) the amount of net excise taxes distributed to the HTF during fiscal year 2011.
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Highway Trust Fund: All States Received More Funding Than They Contributed in Highway Taxes from 2005 to 2009
United States. Government Accountability Office., 2011Co-Authors: United States. Government Accountability Office.Abstract:A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Federal Funding for Highways is provided to the states mostly through a series of grant programs known as the Federal-Aid Highway Program, administered by the Department of Transportation's (DOT) Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). In 2005, the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) authorized $197.5 billion for the Federal-Aid Highway Program for fiscal years 2005 through 2009. The program operates on a "user pay" system, wherein users contribute to the Highway Trust Fund through fuel taxes and other fees. The distribution of Funding among the states has been a contentious issue. States that receive less than Highway users contribute are known as "donor" states and states that receive more than users contribute are known as "donee" states. GAO was asked to examine for the SAFETEA-LU period (1) how contributions to the Highway Trust Fund compared with the Funding states received, (2) what provisions were used to address rate-of-return issues across states, and (3) what additional factors affect the relationship between contributions to the Highway Trust Fund and the Funding states receive. To conduct this review, GAO obtained and analyzed data from FHWA, reviewed FHWA and other reports, and interviewed FHWA and DOT officials.
Meredith Coley - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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HISTORY OF THE Highway Trust Fund
Transportation Research Record, 2004Co-Authors: Wayne Mcdaniel, Meredith ColeyAbstract:The Federal Highway Trust Fund (the Fund), which contains receipts from Highway user fees (such as gasoline and heavy vehicle use fees), was established by Congress in 1956. Its principal purpose was to finance the construction of the Interstate Highway system, and its creators' original intention was to terminate the Fund when that effort was accomplished. However, the Fund has since morphed into an ongoing method of financing a broad range of federal transportation programs and now comprises both a Highway account and a mass transit account. Over the years, the structure of the taxes supporting the Fund and the rules governing its expenditures and administration have changed, sometimes significantly. Among the most significant changes were a series of increases to tax levels and transfers to the Fund (major increases occurred in 1959, 1961, 1966, 1982, and 1997), the imposition of obligation limits in 1974, and the restoration of the user fee concept in 1998. The congressional authorizing acts that provided for these and other revisions to the Fund's Funding levels and administrative procedures from 1956 to 2003 are documented. The Fund's history is a particularly topical subject because Congress continues to address extensions to the Fund, the Fund's supporting revenues, and the transportation programs it finances.
Nikki Rudnick-thorpe - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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End of the Highway Trust Fund?: Long-Term Options for Funding Federal Surface Transportation
Transportation Research Record, 2011Co-Authors: Joshua Schank, Nikki Rudnick-thorpeAbstract:More than at any other time, the status of the Highway Trust Fund is in doubt. Modern federal surface transportation policy began in 1956, and its survival is threatened by a lack of political will to increase the main source of revenue for the program: the federal excise tax on gasoline. In the short term, the federal Highway and transit programs can survive with more borrowed money or with an increase in federal gas tax. However, even if the political will to do either of these things is found, both sources of revenue are unsustainable in the long term. As Congress faces this transportation Funding crisis, it must consider how to avoid a similar problem in the future by transitioning to a reliable source of revenue immediately. Failing to do so would put the national transportation system and national competitiveness at risk. This paper explores the following three policy options for long-term federal transportation Funding by presenting the advantages and disadvantages of each one: (a) continued curren...
Wayne Mcdaniel - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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HISTORY OF THE Highway Trust Fund
Transportation Research Record, 2004Co-Authors: Wayne Mcdaniel, Meredith ColeyAbstract:The Federal Highway Trust Fund (the Fund), which contains receipts from Highway user fees (such as gasoline and heavy vehicle use fees), was established by Congress in 1956. Its principal purpose was to finance the construction of the Interstate Highway system, and its creators' original intention was to terminate the Fund when that effort was accomplished. However, the Fund has since morphed into an ongoing method of financing a broad range of federal transportation programs and now comprises both a Highway account and a mass transit account. Over the years, the structure of the taxes supporting the Fund and the rules governing its expenditures and administration have changed, sometimes significantly. Among the most significant changes were a series of increases to tax levels and transfers to the Fund (major increases occurred in 1959, 1961, 1966, 1982, and 1997), the imposition of obligation limits in 1974, and the restoration of the user fee concept in 1998. The congressional authorizing acts that provided for these and other revisions to the Fund's Funding levels and administrative procedures from 1956 to 2003 are documented. The Fund's history is a particularly topical subject because Congress continues to address extensions to the Fund, the Fund's supporting revenues, and the transportation programs it finances.
Joshua Schank - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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An International Perspective on Surface Transportation Funding
2015Co-Authors: Marla Westervelt, Joshua Schank, Paul LewisAbstract:For the last decade the United States has faced recurring Funding crises in its federal transportation program. The inadequacy and near-insolvency of the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) provides an opportunity for the U.S. to find more effective ways of paying for its surface transportation needs. This paper explores how other countries provide sustainable transportation Funding through case studies of five peer nations - the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, Germany, and Canada. This report examines how each peer country Funds surface transportation at the national level, and concludes by identifying lessons that could be applied to the context in the United States
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End of the Highway Trust Fund?: Long-Term Options for Funding Federal Surface Transportation
Transportation Research Record, 2011Co-Authors: Joshua Schank, Nikki Rudnick-thorpeAbstract:More than at any other time, the status of the Highway Trust Fund is in doubt. Modern federal surface transportation policy began in 1956, and its survival is threatened by a lack of political will to increase the main source of revenue for the program: the federal excise tax on gasoline. In the short term, the federal Highway and transit programs can survive with more borrowed money or with an increase in federal gas tax. However, even if the political will to do either of these things is found, both sources of revenue are unsustainable in the long term. As Congress faces this transportation Funding crisis, it must consider how to avoid a similar problem in the future by transitioning to a reliable source of revenue immediately. Failing to do so would put the national transportation system and national competitiveness at risk. This paper explores the following three policy options for long-term federal transportation Funding by presenting the advantages and disadvantages of each one: (a) continued curren...