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America's Autos On Welfare Summary of Subsidies In addition to the price paid by motorists at the pump, drivers and non-drivers alike spend additional money for each gallon of gas -- in the form of direct and indirect taxes and losses. Every year those subsidies cost America billions of dollars. The exact dollar amount is difficult to calculate, but every study done shows that it is at least twice the amount motorists pay at the pump. The following table shows the total subsidies to motor vehicle use reported in eight important studies. The types of subsidies included are listed below, where you can also find links to more details about road subsidies. Report $/gallon gas or diesel annual cost in billions Ketcham & Komanoff 5.53 730 Litman 7.08 935 MacKenzie, Dower & Chen 3.03 400 Moffet & Miller 2.86 - 5.00 378 - 660 Vorhees 4.78 631 Office of Technology Assessment 3.39 - 6.81 447 - 899 OTA * 11.17 - 16.11 1,475 - 2,127 Delucchi 3.13 - 7.55 413 - 997 * includes non-monetary personal costs (primarily owner accidents & travel time) Sources of Subsidies 1. Police, fire, ambulance; road construction & maintenance; other local government - paid for with taxes. 2. Property taxes lost from land cleared for freeways 3. Parking - free or cheaper parking is paid for with other taxes, or more expensive goods or services. 4. Air, water, land pollution - adds to medical expenses, loss of species and cleanup costs. 5. Noise, vibration damage to structures - adds to medical expenses and repair costs. 6. Global warming - adds to medical expenses, loss of species and other costs. 7. Petroleum supply line policing, security, petroleum production subsidies - increases taxes for defense. 8. Trade deficit, infrastructure deficit - increases costs of goods. 9. Sprawl, loss of transportation options - increases personal and corporate transportation costs. 10. Uncompensated auto accidents - increases personal costs. 11. Congestion- increases personal costs and losses. 10/96 Draft References Brian Ketcham & Charles Komanoff; Win-Win Transportation: A No-Losers Approach To Financing Transport in New York City and the Region; KEA, 270 Lafayette #400, New York 10012, 212-334-9767; 9 July 92 Draft Todd Litman; Transportation Cost Survey; Victoria Transport Policy Institute, 1250 Rudlin Street, Victoria, BC, V8V 3R7, Canada, Phone/Fax: (250) 360-1560, litman@vtpi.org , web page: www.vtpi.org ; 2 Feb 92 James MacKenzie, Roger Dower & Donald Chen; The Going Rate: What It Really Costs To Drive; World Resources Institute, 1709 New York Ave NW, Washington DC 20006; June 92 John Moffet & Peter Miller; The Price of Mobility; Natural Resources Defense Council, 71 Stevenson Pl #1825, San Francisco CA 94105, 415-777-0220; Oct 93 Michael Vorhees; The True Costs of the Automobile to Society; 3131 Bell Dr., Boulder CO 80301, 303- 449-9067; 4 Jan 92 Office of Technology Assessment; Saving Energy in U.S. Transportation; U.S. Congress, OTA-ETI-589, 1994 Mark Delucchi (Inst. of Transportation Studies, UC Davis, CA 95616); A Total Cost Of Motor-Vehicle Use,@ Access, Spring 1996 Assumptions 20 mpg average fuel consumption 132 billion gallons per year of gasoline & diesel are consumed by road vehicles in the U.S. 106 billion gallons per year by autos & light trucks. S. Davis & S. Strang, Transportation Energy Data Book 13, ORNL-6743, 1993, Table 2.7 189 million cars, trucks & buses in the U.S.  Davis & Strang More Details about Subsidies Todd Litman, "Transportation Cost Analysis Summary," VTPI, 1999. Mark Delucchi, Annualized Social Cost of Motor Vehicle Use in the United States, Based on 1990-1991 Data, University of California at Davis www.engr.ucdavis.edu/~its, 1996-97; summarized in "Total Cost of Motor-Vehicle Use," Access, No. 8, Spring 1996, pp. 7-13. 1997 Federal Highway Cost Allocation Study, USDOT. For discussion of transportation pricing reforms see: Todd Litman, Charles Komanoff and Douglass Howell, "Road Relief; Tax and Price Shifts for a Fairer, Cleaner, and Less Congested Transportation System in Washington State," Climate Solutions, 1998. Todd Litman, "Socially Optimal Transport Prices and Markets," VTPI, 1999. Todd Litman, "Win-Win Transportation Solutions", VTPI , 1999. Up to Top | Printer-friendly version of this page