I was not aware that taxes on gasoline served merely as a road construction fund.
Now you know!
However, it makes since that our administration wants higher gas prices (along side from green energy....yank) ...so that they can simply cycle that money to a public union building roads, who in turn would turn around and give it straight back to the government officials....thought outload
Please translate the above quote into complete english sentences and I will try to respond.
Anyway, it seems you think they're to low, what do propose then? Raise gas prices, and/or taxes?
The author of the article states they are too low. It is up to each state to decide how they make up the extra taxes needed beyond the gas tax to pay for the construction and maintenance of their roads. Gax taxes and toll roads seem the most direct way to pay for roads to me. And, I think we should move more of our freight by rail as it is more cost efficient, and trucks do most of the damage to roads that require expensive repair.
What tax method do you think the states should use to make up what they need for roads?
I just found this further info that may help in our discussion:
"To have a meaningful national debate over transportation policy – particularly at a time of tight public budgets – it is important to get past the myths and address the real, difficult choices America must make for the 21st century. Toward that end, this report shows:
· Gasoline taxes aren’t “user fees” in any meaningful sense of the term – The amount of money a particular driver pays in gasoline taxes bears little relationship to his or her use of roads funded by gas taxes.
· State gas taxes are often not “extra” fees – Most states exempt gasoline from the state sales tax, diverting much of the money that would have gone into a state’s general fund to roads.
· Federal gas taxes have typically not been devoted exclusively to highways – Since its 1934 inception, Congress only temporarily dedicated gas tax revenues fully to highways during the brief 17-year period beginning in 1956. This was at the start of construction for the Interstate highway network, a project completed in the 1990s.
· Highways don’t pay for themselves -- Since 1947, the amount of money spent on highways, roads and streets has exceeded the amount raised through gasoline taxes and other so-called “user fees” by $600 billion (2005 dollars), representing a massive transfer of general government funds to highways.
· Highways “pay for themselves” less today than ever. Currently, highway “user fees” pay only about half the cost of building and maintaining the nation’s network of highways, roads and streets.
· These figures fail to include the many costs imposed by highway construction on non-users of the system, including damage to the environment and public health and encouragement of sprawling forms of development that impose major costs on the environment and government finances."
Do Roads Pay For Themselves? Setting the Record Straight on Transportation Funding - U.S. PIRG