Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS)
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Table 2. Net Federal Subsidies to Passenger Transportation by Mode: FY 1990-2003

(Millions of Chained 2000 Dollars)

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  1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
All Modes, total 5,465 2,682 4,651 4,162 1,773 558 2,338 2,039 -3,849 -5,657 -3,392 5,108 8,195 N/A
Highway -3,862 -6,036 -5,204 -5,248 -7,592 -9,391 -9,645 -8,441 -11,693 -10,410 -8,909 -5,297 -4,238 N/A
Autos, Pickups & Vans -3,999 -6,165 -5,340 -5,390 -7,740 -9,530 -9,784 -8,584 -11,822 -10,558 -9,086 -5,494 -4,452 N/A
School Buses 81 79 83 85 92 89 89 91 87 96 109 116 125 N/A
Transit Buses 55 54 56 58 62 60 60 61 59 65 74 78 84 N/A
Intercity Buses 1 -4 -2 -2 -6 -10 -11 -8 -16 -12 -7 2 5 N/A
Air 3,462 2,860 4,253 4,338 4,143 3,893 6,192 4,463 1,120 -1,083 -446 2,898 4,026 N/A
Commercial Aviation 2,493 1,803 3,091 3,065 2,993 2,774 4,944 3,373 -19 -2,073 -1,433 1,472 2,831 N/A
General Aviation 969 1,057 1,162 1,274 1,150 1,119 1,248 1,090 1,139 991 987 1,427 1,194 N/A
Transit 5,091 4,952 4,570 4,200 4,364 5,007 4,796 4,918 4,564 4,402 5,334 6,917 7,314 4,572
Railroad 774 906 1,031 872 858 1,049 994 1,099 2,160 1,434 629 591 1,093 976

KEY: N/A = Data not available

NOTES: Net federal subsidy is estimated as federal outlays minus federal receipts from transportation taxes and user fees. Actual outlays and receipts are used in the calculation. Negative numbers show user charge payments to the federal government in excess of cost responsibility. The Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 allowed motor fuel taxpayers to delay until October 5, 1998, the payment of fuel taxes that otherwise would be due in August and September of 1998. This provision effectively shifted about $6 billion in Highway Trust Fund receipts from 1998 to 1999. We have included these funds in FY 1998, when they were actually paid by highway users.

SOURCES: BTS estimations based on data from the following sources: Executive Office of the President of the United States, Office of Management and Budget, "Budget of the United States Government – Appendix," Washington, D.C.: Annual publication.

U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, "Highway Statistics," Washington, D.C.: Annual publication.

Executive Office of the President of the United States, Office of Management and Budget, "Budget of the United States Government FY 2005 – Public Budget Database," Washington, D.C.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration, "Aeronautics and Space Report of the President," Washington, D.C.: Annual issue, available at: http://www.hq.nasa.gov/hq/nasrepts.htm, as of July 2004.

U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration, "Budget in Brief," Washington, D.C.: Annual publication, available at: http://www.faa.gov/aba/html_budget/index.html, as of July 2004.

U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, "Addendum to the 1997 Federal Highway Cost Allocation Study," Final Report, May 2000.

Gellman Research Associates, Inc (GRA), "Cost Allocation Study of FAA's FY 1995 Costs," March 1997.

Congressional Research Service (CRS), "Transportation Fuel Taxes, Legislative Issues, and the Transportation Equity Act," CRS Report for Congress, June 17, 1998; and _____"Transportation Fuel Taxes After the 1993 Budget Act: How Much? For What? And for How Long?" CRS Report for Congress, October 7, 1993.

U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis, "National Income and Product Account Tables," available at http://www.bea.gov/bea/dn/nipaweb/SelectTable.asp?Selected=N, as of July 2004.



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