How states choose their method to tax motor fuel is one of the topics to be explored at the 4th Annual “National Workshop for State & Local Transportation Advocates” on July 12 in Washington, D.C.
Three transportation advocates will compare the way their state taxes motor fuel— a flat excise tax, a variable-rate tax that adjusts based on the average wholesale price of motor fuel, and a variable-rate tax that adjusts based on changes to both the Consumer Price Index and population growth. Speakers will share the strengths and challenges of the different taxes, and the outlook for that method going forward. Additionally, two advocates will discuss the different paths their states took to solve the same motor fuel tax dilemma.
Speakers include:
- Juva Barber, executive director of Kentuckians for Better Transportation, will discuss the state’s variable-rate tax, a percentage on the average wholesale price of gasoline, and how the need to revise the formula arose in 2015 when gas prices fell.
- Burt Tasaico, state program analysis engineer for the North Carolina Department of Transportation. Tasaico will share how his state stabilized and modernized a 30 year old variable-rate formula to one that adjusts the state gas tax based on changes to the Consumer Price Index for Energy (making up 25 percent of the tax) and state population growth (making up 75 percent of the tax), the impact of that formula on the state transportation budget, and the outlook going forward.
- Idaho State Sen. Bert Brackett (R- District 23), will discuss 2015 legislation that included a flat excise tax increase. He will also discuss how the decision was made to continue the state’s fixed cent-per-gallon fuel tax structure and whether alternative fuel tax structures were debated. Additionally, Sen. Brackett will discuss Idaho’s 2017 transportation legislation seeking to continue to provide support for the state’s roads.
Other key sessions include:
- “Alternative Transportation Funding Options”
- “2016-2017 State Transportation Funding Roundtable”
- “2013 State Gas Tax Increases: Where are They Now?”
- “State Transportation Funding Champion Legislators”
- “State and Local Transportation Funding Trends”
- “Building America’s Economic Expressway Campaign”
- “Federal Transportation Funding Developments”
View the full agenda and register at: www.transportationinvestment.org. Contact ARTBA’s Carolyn Kramer at ckramer@artba.org or by phone at 202.289.4434 with questions.
The Workshop, a signature program of the Transportation Investment Advocacy Center™ (TIAC), is being held in conjunction with ARTBA’s Public-Private Partnerships (P3) in Transportation Conference.