Portland Transport

Category: Transportation Funding

  • Oregonian Looks at the Small Picture

    An editorial in today’s O the editorial board calls Earl Blumenauer’s proposed gax tax increase ‘too steep’ and quotes the “non-partisan Tax Foundation” citing Oregon’s gas tax as among the nation’s 20 highest. Looking at the big picture, it’s worth remembering that Oregon’s motor vehicle fees and taxes when added together are among the nation’s…

  • Bring on the Tolls?

    via Planetizen: An article in Governing magazine suggests that perhaps we skip this whole Gas Tax versus VMT Tax versus [fill in the blank] debate and simply remove the Federal prohibition and let local governments toll their Interstates…

  • Best Thing We Could Do for Transportation: Abolish USDOT?

    I’m a fan of Chuck Marohn and his “Strong Towns” organization. We start from different places but get to generally the same priorities for transportation spending. His focus is fiscal sustainability and in a recent podcast, he makes the case that Federal transportation policy, as implemented by the US Department of Transportation, has the effect…

  • Pensions and budgets, and cuts. (Oh my).

    On the heels of all the CRC goings-on down in Salem (and in various council chambers in Vancouver and Oregon City), TriMet yesterday tossed a little gasoline in the fire with some dire predictions for transit levels a decade hence. While its outlook for FY14 is essentially flat–no service restorations, no further cuts, depending on…

  • Crack in Anti-Gas Tax Wall?

    The president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, hardly a left-wing organization, made a speech calling for an increase in the Federal gas tax, linking it to needed infrastructure projects and distinguishing it as a user fee rather than a tax.