Implications of State Aid Cuts for Local Road Funding

Summary

Local governments in the U.S. use a variety of tax mechanisms to fund local roads. Twelve options are examined in this report related to property access, vehicle use or local economic activity. The most frequent local levies are property taxes, special assessments, vehicle registration taxes, motor fuel taxes and local sales taxes. The overall mix of local road funding also varies widely by state and region. Nebraska, Wisconsin and Kansas have local road revenues most like Minnesota, while local roads funding in New Hampshire, Florida and Nevada is the least similar. The benefits of any individual road tax must be judged in the context of the larger state and local tax system.