United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office Resources, Community, and Economic Development Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 2000-06-29 monographic deposited born digital 67 p. GA 1.13:RCED/AIMD-00-148 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-RCED-AIMD-00-148 P0b002ee180373625 f:r100148 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-24 GAOREPORTS-RCED-AIMD-00-148 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-RCED-AIMD-00-148 RCED/AIMD-00-148 Excise taxes Internal controls Accounting procedures Federal agency accounting systems Funds management Reporting requirements Federal/state relations Federal aid for highways Trust funds Highway Trust Fund IRS Excise Files Information Retrieval System Letter Report RCED AIMD Y1998 Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the: (1) Department of the Treasury's process for allocating highway user tax receipts to the Highway Account of the Highway Trust Fund; (2) Federal Highway Administration (FHwA) process for estimating motor fuel usage and the contributions to the account that are attributable to highway users in each state; and (3) impact of these processes on the amount of highway program funds distributed to each state.<p/>GAO noted that: (1) given the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century's increased linkage between the receipts in the Highway Account of the Highway Trust Fund and the level of highway program funds distributed to the states, the quality of information developed by the Treasury and FHwA is more critical than ever before in determining accurate funding amounts to be distributed to the states each year; (2) the processes used by Treasury and FHwA to estimate overall receipts and the portion of those receipts attributable to highway users in individual states are highly complex and susceptible to error, and the reliability of the estimates has not been demonstrated; (3) as a result, there is little assurance that the actual amounts distributed to the states are accurate, although there is no way of knowing the extent of over- or under-payments, if any, to individual states, given the information available from the two agencies; (4) although the Treasury and FHwA are taking actions to review and improve their estimating processes, these actions are not sufficient to correct all the weaknesses; (5) for example, although Treasury has a number of ongoing efforts aimed at improving its revenue allocation and reporting process for trust funds, it does not have a comprehensive plan, with timeframes, that addresses all of the policy and process changes needed to fully implement those efforts; and (6) furthermore, FHwA's efforts to improve the data and methodology used in its attribution process do not verify the accuracy of the information resulting from that process. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-RCED-AIMD-00-148/html/GAOREPORTS-RCED-AIMD-00-148.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-RCED-AIMD-00-148/pdf/GAOREPORTS-RCED-AIMD-00-148.pdf GAO/RCED/AIMD-00-148 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-RCED-AIMD-00-148 Letter Report GAO/RCED/AIMD-00-148; Highway Funding: Problems With Highway Trust Fund; Excise taxes Internal controls Accounting procedures Federal agency accounting systems Funds management Reporting requirements Federal/state relations Federal aid for highways Trust funds Highway Trust Fund IRS Excise Files Information Retrieval System Public Law 102-240 Public Law 105-178