Over here (Finland), tax revenue from fuel and vehicle taxes is 7 G€ per years, government expenditure on roads is in the order of 1 G€ per year. There is no relationship of vehicle/gas taxes and road maintenance; taxes are just general revenue.
And I think it's just the same in most countries: taxes are just taxes, general revenue; not earmarked money for some particular purpose.
(What baffles me is that the gas tax in U.S. is so low; that contributes to the situation where vehicles are often very large and consume ridiculously high amounts of fuel).
I think it does in the UK. Taxes aren't hypothecated but my understanding is road, car and fuel taxes bring in about twice as much as we spend maintaining the infrastructure.
"In most places the amount of fuel tax collected far exceeds that which is spent on road infrastructure. "
Lol wut no. Were you talking about places other than USA? Because here in the USA, billions of dollars are transferred every year from general funds into the highway administration because the fuel tax is not even close to sufficient for maintenance of highways. This is also true at the state level, but to a much higher ratio.
“Nationwide in 2010, state and local governments raised $37 billion in motor fuel taxes and $12 billion in tolls and non-fuel taxes, but spent $155 billion on highways,” writes the Tax Foundation’s Joseph Henchman. Another $28 billion of that $155 billion comes from revenue from the federal gas tax.
As of 2014, the allowable tax deduction for business reimbursements for personal vehicle usage is $.56 per mile, which is supposed to cover gas and wear and tear on your personal vehicle.
Finland: according to Numbeo [1] fuel runs around 1.66 Euro per liter. In the U.S. it's $.96 per liter (or .73 Euro).
I'm guessing there's probably some kind of auto tax in Finland which appears to be fairly expensive. I've heard it's ~20% of the current cost of the car per year, but I can't figure out the tax code from looking on-line. In the U.S. it's complicated, but in places that have a personal property tax, it's usually pretty low. I think the tax on my car is something like $250/year.
Wear and tear can cost a lot as well. I live in a pretty weather prone part of the U.S., but I'm guessing it's nothing like the typical Finnish winter.
Power and fuel are still taxed on usage basis. There is no real difference except that road maintenance is also funded by a basic fee. It's a two way system.
I'm not sure how it works in your country, but in the US fuel taxes don't go to the general pot, they end up in a specific fund called the Highway Trust Fund that's specifically earmarked for transportation infrastructure and maintenance.
Cars don't pay for their costs and it's not close. Fuel tax doesn't even cover a small fraction of infrastructure cost in most European countries. Building roads is heavily subsidized from federal budgets, land given for free, accident costs covered by public money etc. etc.
At least in the US, fuel taxes only partially cover road costs. Even if they did, fuel taxes hit more than just vehicles on roads (boats, lawnmowers, etc.) so it’s not that clear cut
In the US, we tax roads by usage via fuel (gasoline and diesel) tax [^1]. It's a simple solution: the more miles you drive, the more fuel you use; the more fuel you use, the more tax you pay. Vehicles that use more fuel per mile driven tend to be larger and thus cause more wear on the roads.
It's not without its faults though. Fuel usage isn't directly related to cost of road maintenance, it's just a very rough approximation. Fuel usage has mattered less and less over the past couple of decades with hybrids and EVs – though this is addressed in some places by imposing an extra EV tax (since EV drivers would pay no fuel tax but would still cause wear on the roads).
That report says that that tax is to be spent on roads, transport, biking infrastructure & etc.
I also expect that you don't have any idea how much of the total road-maintenance funding comes from that tax, and how much of it comes from other sources.
(It's also... odd... to start off talking about tax and revenue policies in the US, and then suddenly switch to an entirely separate country (given that the US is uniquely car-centric and politically fucked-up) but whatever.)
aren't most roads maintained (supposedly) via gas taxes?
The last time I looked into this, studies put it at something like 50% - 80% of costs paid for by fuel taxes. It's hard to come up with a straight figure because of so many levels of intermingled tax funds.
And I think it's just the same in most countries: taxes are just taxes, general revenue; not earmarked money for some particular purpose.
(What baffles me is that the gas tax in U.S. is so low; that contributes to the situation where vehicles are often very large and consume ridiculously high amounts of fuel).
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