The option of an oil tax to fund transportation and infrastructure / Keith Crane, Nicholas Burger, Martin Wachs.

• Author: Crane, Keith, 1953-
• TeilnehmendeR: Burger, Nicholas.; Wachs, Martin.
• Year of Publication: 2011
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Language: English
• Series: Occasional paper The option of an oil tax to fund transportation and infrastructure
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (48 p.)
• Notes: Description based upon print version of record.

Federal spending on surface-transportation infrastructure outpaces federal taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel. Increasing fuel efficiency means that fuel-purchase expenditures have dropped, so real revenue generated from these taxes has declined. A percentage tax on crude oil and imported refined-petroleum products consumed in the United States could fund U.S. transportation infrastructure.

Table of Contents

Title Page; Copyright; Preface; Contents; Figures; Tables; Summary; Acknowledgments; Abbreviations; Section 1: Introduction; Section 2: Why Tax Oil?; Gasoline and Diesel Taxes Are Insufficient to Pay for Roads; Legislators Have Been Unwilling to Raise Gasoline and Diesel Taxes; Design and Benefits of a Tax on Oil; Section 3: How Much Might Oil Be Taxed?; Revenue Needs; Externalities; Damage to the Environment; Costs of Defending Foreign Sources of Oil and Transit; Monopsony Premium; A Potential Tax Rate for Oil; Section 4: Who Would Pay the Tax?

Distribution of the Tax Among Consumers, Refiners, and Domestic and Foreign ProducersDistributional Effects of an Oil Tax; Implications That the Proposed Tax Could Have for Transportation Appropriations; Link the Tax to the Highway Trust Fund; Apportion the Revenue According to Its Use; Abandon the Trust Fund in Favor of General-Fund Financing; Implementation; Setting the Tax; Phasing In the Tax; Conclusion; Appendix: Gasoline Prices and Federal Tax History, 1949-2008; Bibliography