Through the enactment of Senate Bill 1077 in 2014, the California Legislature and Governor determined it important for the state to begin to explore alternative revenue sources that may be implemented in lieu of the antiquated gas tax structure now in place. The primary goal of this project is to understand the current administration of federal fuel taxes and to identify key aspects of administration when transitioning away from a traditional fuel tax towards a road charge mechanism. This includes understanding who collects it, where the point of collection happens, how the revenue is redistributed back to the states at the federal level, and the expected associated costs of administration. The project will identify different models of implementing cost recovery for a road charge program and how these costs could be minimized. Given the existing difficulties and high cost of administration of the road charge program in Oregon, the focus of this project will be on identifying cost- effective and simplistic plans of implementation on the federal level.
