New England mileage fee survey

Fleet diversification and increases in energy efficiency continue to weaken the revenue-generating ability of motor fuels taxes (colloquially, “gas taxes”), which are a large source of funding for transportation projects. While alternative funding schemes are necessary, consensus amongst policymakers is lacking and public acceptance of changes to the gas tax is low. We surveyed residents of Vermont, Maine, and New Hampshire to gauge understanding of and support for a mileage fee and a flat fee as potential replacements for the gas tax. Throughout the survey, respondents were provided information and learning opportunities to “myth bust” common misconceptions about the gas tax and the potential policy alternatives. We find that, before education, respondents knew very little about how the current gas tax works and showed minimal support for the proposed policy alternatives. Post-education, support for mileage fees increased by 11%, and the impact of the education was statistically signif..., We created an internet-based survey to gather public opinion on a $0.015 per mile travelled fee (mileage fee) and a $220 per year per vehicle fee (flat fee) to replace state gas taxes in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. The survey was fielded between May 6th and June 3rd of 2022 using Qualtrics paid survey panelists. Each state was surveyed to ensure 210 usable responses per state. A total of 658 complete responses were collected. 
In the survey, respondents were presented with voting opportuntities (Do you support replacing the gas tax with a mileage fee? Do you support replacing the gas tax with a flat fee?), followed by educational treatments. The order was as follows: Voting Opportunity 1, Education Treatment 1 (respondents presented with personalized cost estimates for each type of fee based on their provided vehicle information), Voting Opportunity 2, Educational Treatment 2 (respondents watched an educational video developed for the purposes of this research discussing mil...,