Dallas Morning News
Micheal Lindenberger // February 10, 2010
As vehicles get more efficient, they will travel further on each gallon of gas. So each year, each driver will pay less in gas taxes, even as they drive as much or more on the roads that must be kept up. TxDOT chief Amadeo Saenz likes to say his old Suburban got 12 miles to the gallon and his newer one gets 24.
The big idea:So what to do it about? Increasingly, what we're told is that the future should include a tax on miles driven. There are lots of ways to do this, but none are simple.
So what to do? Easy enough: If the politicians believe more revenue is needed to pay for transportation, index the rate to keep up with both construction costs increases. If they believe it's being eroded by efficiency, simply index it to the increase in miles per gallon of the average car in Texas. Lawmakers could simply establish a baseline for the average fuel efficiency of the Texas fleet. The feds already track this here, and lawmakers could set the gas tax rate to increase every couple of years by an amount that is equal to the average increase in fuel efficiency.
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Sunday, February 14, 2010
The Gas Tax Versus a VMT Tax: Is ‘All of the Above’ an Option?
DC.StreetsBlog.org
Elana Schor // February 10, 2010
The prospect of an eventual move away from the gas tax and towards a fee on vehicle miles traveled (VMT) has sparked consternation from some well-known bloggers this week, with Matt Yglesiasasserting that "a VMT [tax] has no advantages whatsoever over higher gasoline taxes" and Andrew Samwick suggesting that declining fuel tax revenues mean that tax rates need to go even higher.
That absence of a "direct nexus to road use" is a concept not easily understood by many Americans, especially drivers long inundated with misleading claims that the gas tax constitutes a user fee. As Ryan Avent has explained on this page, a user fee assumes that everyone on the road pays for the time they spend and the burden they place on it.
Elana Schor // February 10, 2010
The prospect of an eventual move away from the gas tax and towards a fee on vehicle miles traveled (VMT) has sparked consternation from some well-known bloggers this week, with Matt Yglesiasasserting that "a VMT [tax] has no advantages whatsoever over higher gasoline taxes" and Andrew Samwick suggesting that declining fuel tax revenues mean that tax rates need to go even higher.
That absence of a "direct nexus to road use" is a concept not easily understood by many Americans, especially drivers long inundated with misleading claims that the gas tax constitutes a user fee. As Ryan Avent has explained on this page, a user fee assumes that everyone on the road pays for the time they spend and the burden they place on it.
But while 25 gallons of taxed gas will last for an estimated 725 miles in a 2010 Ford Escape hybrid SUV (at a combined 29 miles per gallon), the lighter 2010 Ford Mustang (estimated at 19 miles per gallon) would go just 425 miles while paying the same amount of gas tax. The heavier car ends up putting more stress on the road while paying less for it. Is that an equitable system of maintaining the transportation network?
MORE“Smaller homes, urban lifestyles and sustainable communities will shape development”
NRDC Switchboard
Kaid Benfield // February 9, 2010
Younger generations looking for smaller homes, urban lifestyles and sustainable communities are among the forces that will shape the future of real estate development.” Frampton continued: “Some of the shifts in demand are related to demographics and were emerging before the economy sank, the speakers said. Others are results of new, post-recession values.
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Kaid Benfield // February 9, 2010
Younger generations looking for smaller homes, urban lifestyles and sustainable communities are among the forces that will shape the future of real estate development.” Frampton continued: “Some of the shifts in demand are related to demographics and were emerging before the economy sank, the speakers said. Others are results of new, post-recession values.
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Vehicle Miles Travelled Tax??
The Washington Post
Ashley Halsey III
February 7, 2010
Within a few years, a driver who pulls up to the gas pump may pay two bills with a single swipe of the credit card: one for the gas and the other for each mile driven since the last fill-up.
That may be the result of what many transportation experts see as an inevitable revolution in the way Americans pay for their highways.
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Ashley Halsey III
February 7, 2010
Within a few years, a driver who pulls up to the gas pump may pay two bills with a single swipe of the credit card: one for the gas and the other for each mile driven since the last fill-up.
That may be the result of what many transportation experts see as an inevitable revolution in the way Americans pay for their highways.
MORE
Update on Urban Projects Around the Trinity River
Dallas Morning News
Rudolph Bush // February 8, 2010
Rudolph Bush // February 8, 2010
Here they are in a nutshell.
West Dallas Plan - Brent Brown's CityDesign Studio has largely completed a development plan for West Dallas aimed at reawakening forgotten parts of the city while preserving important neighborhoods like La Bajada.
Continental Bridge - The design process for the pedestrian transformation is just underway, architect Don Raines said.
Texas Horse Park - Almost all of the land for the 500-acre Horse Park near the Trinity River Audubon Center has been acquired.
Trinity River Audubon Center - Open for some 18 months, the center is one of the biggest attractions related to the Trinity. 50,000 people have been through the doors but efforts are aimed toward bringing in many more.
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