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Federal Subsidies to Passenger Transportation
The
net flow of funds to and from the federal government for passenger
transportation varies by mode and over time (figure 10-8). On average, transit
received $5.1 billion (in chained 2000 dollars1)
per year in net federal subsidies2 between 1992
and 2002, more than any other mode of transportation. During this same period,
highway users paid an average of $7.8 billion a year in excess of user charge
payments, such as fuel taxes, over their allocated costs, making highway travel
the only mode of transportation whose net federal subsidy showed negative
values for the entire period [1].
The
pattern of net federal subsidies to passenger transportation changes when
subsidies are normalized by passenger-miles (figure 10-9). By this measure,
rail passenger transportation is the most heavily subsidized mode of passenger
transportation, averaging $196 per thousand passenger-miles in federal
subsidies.3 Aviation has also received a sizable
federal subsidy during recent years, despite a decline in net federal subsidy
per thousand passenger-miles from 1997 to 2000. The decline in aviation's
federal subsidies in this earlier period occurred because of an increase in
federal receipts from aviation users. (An increase in excise tax
rates and the introduction of new taxes in 1997 preceded increases in
expenditures.) In contrast, users of automobiles, pickup trucks, and
vans paid an average of $2 per thousand passenger-miles in excess of their
allocated subsidy from 1992 to 2002. Meanwhile, highway bus transportation
received an average federal subsidy of about $4 per thousand passenger-miles
[1].
Source
1. U.S. Department of Transportation, Research
and Innovative Technology Administration, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Federal Subsidies to Passenger
Transportation, December 2004, available at http://www.bts.gov/, as of February 2005.
1 All dollar amounts are expressed in chained 2000
dollars, unless otherwise specified. To eliminate the effects of inflation over
time, the Bureau of Transportation Statistics converted current dollars (which
are available in appendix B of this report) to chained 2000 dollars.
2 Net federal subsidies constitute the excess of
expenditures over revenues.
3 Rail includes both Amtrak and Alaska Railroad.
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