RAILforum: Amtrak Taxes

This is topic Amtrak Taxes in forum Amtrak at RAILforum.

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Posted by TALKrr (Member # 683) on :

Does anyone know if Amtrak pays real-estate taxes (local, state or federal) on any of its stations ?

If so, this yearly amount must be quite substantial. Does anyone know what that dollar figure might be ?

Also, Amtrak pays a tax on every gallon of diesel fuel it uses. What might be a "guess-timate" related to what THAT figure might be , per year. Of course, that would depend on how many gallons of diesel fuel Amtrak purchases each year---which also would be substantial.

I would appreciate any input related to these two areas.

Thanks in advance.

Posted by irishchieftain (Member # 1473) on :

Also, Amtrak pays a tax on every gallon of diesel fuel it uses

That's correct, at 4.4¢/gallon. All of that revenue goes into the general fund, unlike gasoline tax which (presumably) goes into highway maintenance/new construction.

Posted by TALKrr (Member # 683) on :

All right. With the diesel tax at about 5 cents per gallon , we can figure a year's total tax input by trying to determine how many gallons of diesel Amtrak bought last year.

Can anyone help us here ?

All this money, of course , goes into the country's general treasury---to be used in support of cars and planes , naturally.

I still am very curious related to whether or not Amtrak pays real-estate tax on some or all of its stations.

Again, can anyone help here ?

Posted by tubaallen (Member # 2057) on :

I don't know what those numbers are, though I am sure they are VERY high.

What I do know is that it would only make sense for Amtrak to keep those taxes, as well as for them to have part of the gasoline tax. We want people to use public transportation, and to save the environment, right? If so, then the way you push this is to use the taxes in a public transportation conducive type of way...tax what you don't want people to do (drive) and give the money to what you do want people to do (bus, train, airplane, etc.).

Posted by Kairho (Member # 1567) on :

Of course this cannot necessarily be extrapolated, but I checked the local tax rolls and the Amtrak station in Ocala is on property owned by the City. Thus, no tax paid here.

The very detailed plat maps of the county seem not to show right of way owned by CSX (Tampa/Jacksonville mainline) on the tax rolls. This will take a bit more investigation of the local situation.