In the United States, transportation finance has become a critical issue at the federal, state, and local levels as vehicles have become increasingly fuel efficient and gasoline taxes have lagged behind both in inflation-adjusted rates and in revenues sufficient to fund America’s highway system. In response to the declining financial resources for transportation infrastructure, local governments are searching for new revenue sources to fund their transportation needs. One option available in many states is to adopt local option transportation taxes. In general, local option transportation taxes are new tax options that are either authorized at the state level or approved by local voters and levied at the county or municipal level for transportation-related purposes.
This study examines the time to adoption of county local option transportation fuel taxes (LOFTs) in Florida from 1972 to 2015. Florida county governments are authorized to levy up to 12 cents of LOFTs in the forms of three separate levies. The first LOFT is the ninth-cent fuel tax, which was authorized in 1972. It the only LOFT available to county governments until 1983 when the second of LOFT (1-6 cents) was permitted in 1983. The third LOFT (1-5 cents) was introduced in 1993. Using a Cox proportional hazard model, this study finds that proximity to a major interstate highway (tax exporting), a larger population size, higher levels of fiscal stress (decline in property tax base), and horizontal tax competition affect time to adoption. Additionally, there is evidence that the legal structure both impacts the time to adoption and the other factors estimated to effect time to adoption.
陈灿博士是美国佛罗里达国际大学（Florida International University）公共政策和管理系的助理教授, 并兼任美国国家交通财政研究中心的客座研究员。他的学术研究主要关注于交通基础设施财政和融资。他曾两次获美国公共行政学会（ASPA）最佳会议论文奖和美国国际公共管理院系联合会（NASPAA ）最佳博士生论文奖。陈博士的研究多次获得专业学术机构的基金资助， 包括美国林肯土地政策研究院 (Lincoln Institute of Land Policy)，国际政府公开组织（Open Government Partnership），韩国发展研究机构（Korean Development Institute），国际城市管理协会（ICMA），欧盟研究中心（EU），美国政府财政官员协会(GFOA) 以及美国政治科学会（APSA）。他在Public Administration, American Review of Public Administration, Public Management Review, Public Performance Management Review, Transport Policy, Public Works Management and Policy, Public Finance Review, Public Budgeting and Finance等权威SSCI英文学术期刊上发表论文17篇，并参与五本英文著作的章节编写。同时他担任20多本国际英文学术期刊的同行评审。陈博士是美国交通政策和管理学会的执行理事。他曾受邀为美国政府会计师协会（AGA) 和美国国家政府采购机构（NIGP）的政府官员们提供创新型基础设施融资的专业培训。2018年，佛罗里达国际大学授予陈灿博士杰出学者奖（Top Scholar Award）。
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