Researchware

With gasoline taxes at the Federal and State level being the primary source of functing for transportation infrastructure and with a large shortfall between the need for transporation funding and current funding levels, there is considerable pressure to increase gas taxes at the state level in many states. However, politicians are often reluctant to raise gas taxes due to public reaction as reflected in the news media. Why is it that some state legislatures approved gasoline tax increases while others did not?

A report issued in May 2010 by the University of Vermont Transportation Research Center entitled "Gasoline Taxes: An Examination of News Media Discourse Related to Gas Tax Funding in Six States" utilizes HyperRESEARCH to conduct a qualitative analysis in which gasoline tax issue frames in the print news media are examined to see if these frames provide clues to the eventual policy outcomes.

An article presenting some of the research is available online on the New York Transportation Journal website. The full PDF of the report can be downloaded here.