Comprehensive Equity Analysis of Mileage-Based User Fees: Taxation and Expenditures for Roadways and Transit

Abstract

Using National Household Travel Survey data and information collected from over 100 agencies, transportation-related taxation and expenditures were assigned to individual households in the Houston Core Based Statistical Area (CBSA). Using Gini Coefficients and Theil Indices, the research demonstrated that implementation of a Mileage Based User Fee (MBUF) would not have a pronounced effect on the current distribution of what households pay versus what they receive in transportation expenditures. The relative winners are rural and high income urban households, while the relative losers are all other urban households.