williamcotton

"The first way PDOT is feeling the pinch of increased oil prices is a new multi-million dollar transportation department budget gap. Why? Oregonians are driving less, in part due to the cost of gas. PDOT’s funding for taking care of local streets and bridges comes largely from state fuel taxes. The gas tax is based on the number of gallons of gas sold – not the price of that gas. So, the fewer gallons of gas sold, the less gas tax. For PDOT that means a $2.7 million current service budget hole for the fiscal year starting in July."

Impacts of a massive new transportation challenge facing our City. | CommissionerSam.com

Is there no end to the number of ways oil culture is screwing us?

Uhm, correct me if I’m wrong…

The City of Portland Office of Transportation, which for some reason goes by PDOT, is primarily concerned with the types of transportation that use motorways. I could not find any reference to non-motor vehicular modes of movement within the literature of this group.

Based on this, it makes complete sense for the taxes that support this government agency to be based on the number of gallons sold rather than the price of gas. If gasoline prices would rise to the point where they are lowering the amount of vehicles on the roadways, then the upkeep costs would be reduced as well.

If the taxes collected were based on the total price of gasoline, then the PDOT would have more funds available to sustain the roads, in turn promoting transportation that was reliant on gasoline.

The only modifications of this tax should be based on the fact that the efficiency of internal combustion engines is increasing. In this case, the tax should be changed to reflect that automobiles are traveling more miles on a gallon of gasoline. Therefor, they would have a greater effect on the infrastructure that government provides for their functioning.

As it currently stands, the economics of the situation are sound.