Premium
Commentary: A “Bottom‐Up” versus “Top‐Down” Approach to Mileage‐Based User Fees
Author(s) -
Darbelnet Robert L.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
public administration review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.721
H-Index - 139
eISSN - 1540-6210
pISSN - 0033-3352
DOI - 10.1111/puar.12057
Subject(s) - alliance , citation , club , library science , service (business) , political science , management , sociology , business , law , computer science , marketing , economics , medicine , anatomy
The article “Road User Fees Instead of Fuel Taxes: Th e Quest for Political Acceptability” by Denvil Duncan and John Graham off ers a useful perspective on the issue of a vehicle miles traveled (VMT) user-based charging system and adds to a growing body of academic work being done on the subject. However, I suggest that they miss the mark slightly in addressing some of the key barriers to the implementation of such a system: deep divisions among lawmakers over the proper role of government and a lack of will to raise revenue from any source, as well as the strength and pervasiveness of public rejection of things that are unfamiliar or that resemble government or private sector monitoring. Th ese challenges lead me to off er an opposing conclusion to the authors’ statement that “[i]f the federal government takes the lead, many states are likely to follow.”