OLR Report 2013-R-0306 explains the role Connecticut's and Massachusetts' gas taxes play in funding highway and bridge repair and the condition of highways and bridges in those states.
Connecticut's gas tax is composed of two separate taxes, a 25-cent per gallon excise tax and a “gross receipts tax” (now 26.4 cents per gallon), for a total of 51.4 cents per gallon. Massachusetts' gas tax, which had been fixed at 21 cents per gallon for more than 20 years, increased to 24 cents per gallon on July 31, 2013. (The Massachusetts tax also includes an additional 2-cent fee that is used only to clean up underground fuel storage tanks.)
Gas tax revenue in each state is deposited into a fund dedicated primarily to paying debt service on bonds issued to fund transportation projects. In Connecticut, this is the Special Transportation Fund (STF); in Massachusetts, the Commonwealth Transportation Fund (CTF). Money from other sources is also deposited into these funds. In Connecticut, these sources include certain motor vehicle license and permit fees, receipts, and other revenue. In Massachusetts, these include a portion of the state sales tax and motor vehicle fees. (Massachusetts also collects tolls on some of its roads, most notably the Massachusetts Turnpike. Massachusetts can use this revenue to operate and maintain only the tolled roads.)
The amount of revenue the gas tax in each state generates is one of several factors that determine the states' ability to pay for highway and bridge repair and maintenance. Other factors include the amount and cost of work that needs to be done, the number of vehicles paying the gas tax, and the amount of money available from other state or federal sources.
Even though Massachusetts' gas tax is lower than Connecticut's, it generated $662 million in 2011, about one-third more than the $493 million Connecticut's tax generated in 2012. One reason for this may be that Massachusetts has twice as many registered motor vehicles as Connecticut. According to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), there were about 5.63 million vehicles (private and commercial cars, buses, trucks, and motorcycles) registered in Massachusetts in 2011, compared to about 2.79 million in Connecticut.
The states differ in other ways with regard to funding transportation repair and maintenance. Connecticut, unlike Massachusetts, uses some of its STF revenue for Department of Transportation (DOT) operating costs, including the “Pay As You Go” program, which helps maintain highways and bridges. According to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) budget director, Massachusetts does not use its CTF money for road repair or maintenance.
Despite the differences in their gas taxes, neither Connecticut nor Massachusetts has been able to generate enough revenue to keep pace with necessary road and bridge repair. Recent studies in each state compared the amount of money needed to keep roads and bridges in “a state of good repair” with the amount of money available to achieve this. According to FHWA, a state of good repair means that roads and bridges, individually and collectively, are functioning as designed and regularly maintained and replaced.
In January, 2011, the Connecticut Transportation Strategy Board (TSB) reported a “state of good repair gap” of about $2 billion in Connecticut. It estimated that the gap would increase to more than $4.5 billion in 2017. In 2007, the Massachusetts Transportation Finance Commission found a $9 billion gap between the amount of money needed to bring highway infrastructure in that state into a state of good repair and the amount of state and federal funding expected for that purpose.
Several groups, including transportation advocates, a newspaper, and an engineering organization, have compared road and bridge conditions in the 50 states. These studies have generally found that Massachusetts roads appeared to be in better shape than those in Connecticut, while the opposite seems to be true with respect to bridges. However, the studies do not all agree. For example, a 2013 report, based on 2011 statistics, found Connecticut had a slightly higher percentage of roads in good condition, and a 2013 study found that the number of structurally deficient bridges had increased in Connecticut and decreased in Massachusetts in the previous two years. We provide links to these reports below.
For more information, read the full report.
