During the recent debate about a transit tax in Hillsborough County, advocates such as County Commissioner Mark Sharpe and others blasted the notion that only public transportation is subsidized by government, and not highways or other roads.
Now the Florida Public Interest Research Group (FPIRG) has released a report called Do Roads Pay For Themselves? and among the findings included are:
- Federal gasoline taxes were originally intended for debt relief, not roads.
- Highways, roads, and streets have received more than $600 billion in subsidies over the last 63 years in excess of the amount raised through gasoline taxes.
- 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. Drivers pay gasoline taxes for the miles they drive on local streets and roads, even though those proceeds are typically used to pay for state and federal highways.
The report comes out just as there are indications that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other pro-business organizations are unhappy about noises the new Republican-led House is making about cutting funding for highway and mass-transit programs.
With Republicans boasting that they want to cut $100 billion, $50 billion from this year’s budget, and want to include everything in those cuts, the Chamber is growing concerned that might mean cutting funding for road projects.
The Wall Street Journal reports:
The Chamber, which contributed heavily to GOP congressional candidates in the midterm elections, said in a letter last week that subjecting highway spending to the uncertainty of annual budget cuts would lead to more job losses in the battered industry. The letter was also signed by groups tied to the construction industry.
At stake is about $41 billion a year the federal government provides to states for repairs to roads and subway systems. For most states, the money constitutes almost half of their budgets for highway capital projects.
This article appears in Dec 30, 2010 – Jan 5, 2011.
