Funding & Financing
Methods of funding and financing transport network maintenance, improvement and expansion are debated extensively and form part of the transport economics field.
Funding issues relate to the ways in which money is raised for the supply of transport capacity. Taxation and user fees are the main methods of fund-raising. Taxation may be general (e.g. income tax), local (e.g. sales tax or land value tax) or variable (e.g. fuel tax), and user fees may be tolls, congestion charges or fares). The method of funding often attracts strong political and public debate.
Financing issues relate to the way in which these funds are used to pay for the supply of transport. Loans, bonds, public-private partnerships and concessions are all methods of financing transport investment.
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