- Analysis of Federal Highway Statistics (www.fhwa.dot.gov/policy/ohpi/hss/index.cfm)
found that the portion of U.S. roadway expenses paid by user fees declined significantly between 1960 and 2007. In 2007, user fees (fuel taxes, vehicle registration fees and tolls) financed only 51% of the $193 billion highway construction and maintenance expenditures,down from 61% ten years earlier, the rest came from income, sales and property taxes, and bonds. Not all user fees collected are spent on highways. Of the 18.4¢per gallon federal tax on gasoline, 2.86¢ are allocated to public transit and 0.1¢ per gallon for leaking fuel storage tank cleanup, and between 1990 and 1997 a portion of federal fuel taxes were used to reduce budget deficits. However, even if those funds were fully devoted to highways, total user fee revenue accounted for only 65% of all 2007 highway funding, down from 84% in 1997 and 77% in 1967.