Tax on Gas for Road and Bridge Repair

[nybbler]

Can't imagine why raising the gas tax is so unpopular. I mean, don't drivers like paying more to fund non-road projects?

[bradykp]

Originally Posted by cremebrulee

You are absolutely right about that...it is usually about construction workers, both highway and home construction....but our infostructure all over this country is awful....really bad and dangerous....but our politicians for years have been spending monies allocated for this, and do not even realize it....and any tax they impose now, will also be forgotten when all the new politicians are voted in, it is unfortunately a vicious cycle, that we have to pay for all the time.

the monies allocated for this amount to a fraction of the monies needed. the money is being spent on infrastructure, it just isn't anywhere near the amount of money we need. Again - the federal gas tax hasn't changed since 1993. How much was Milk in 1993? You don't think the cost of asphalt alone has gone up substantially in 21 years?

[CaptainNJ]

Originally Posted by bradykp

the monies allocated for this amount to a fraction of the monies needed. the money is being spent on infrastructure, it just isn't anywhere near the amount of money we need. Again - the federal gas tax hasn't changed since 1993. How much was Milk in 1993? You don't think the cost of asphalt alone has gone up substantially in 21 years?

but the revenue the tax has brought in to government to waste has almost doubled since 1993. this web site puts 1992 at $22.9 billion and 2011 at $41.2 billion.

but it makes no difference whatsoever what specific taxes bring in. tax dollars are fungible, they can be spent wherever the government wishes to spend them. so what matter is overall tax burden, not individual tax amounts.

Motor Fuel Tax Revenue

besides that point, you cant expect people to support tax increases when people feel that government spends too much money on things it shouldn't be spending money on.

[bradykp]

Originally Posted by CaptainNJ

but the revenue the tax has brought in to government to waste has almost doubled since 1993. this web site puts 1992 at $22.9 billion and 2011 at $41.2 billion.

but it makes no difference whatsoever what specific taxes bring in. tax dollars are fungible, they can be spent wherever the government wishes to spend them. so what matter is overall tax burden, not individual tax amounts.

Motor Fuel Tax Revenue

besides that point, you cant expect people to support tax increases when people feel that government spends too much money on things it shouldn't be spending money on.

i don't disagree with what you're saying. I would love for things to be broken down so that, the gas tax is collected and can only be spent on X. if there's not enough money, then you can't 'borrow' from another fund, you have to change the gas tax.

but irrespective of these points, we need to maintain our roads. stop adding more miles if we have no intention on maintaining the existing miles.

[CaptainNJ]

Originally Posted by bradykp

i don't disagree with what you're saying. I would love for things to be broken down so that, the gas tax is collected and can only be spent on X. if there's not enough money, then you can't 'borrow' from another fund, you have to change the gas tax.

but irrespective of these points, we need to maintain our roads. stop adding more miles if we have no intention on maintaining the existing miles.

one thing that surprises me is the seemingly large majority of people that complain about the condition of the roads. I have no complaints about the roads I travel on. so I don't really see a huge need for increased maintenance. I fear that its more of a rallying cry that seems to convince a lot of people to agree to more money for government than a true need. I know there are reports that roads aren't in good shape or bridges are deficient but I don't really know that they are talking about deficient to a level that I don't think is acceptable. they may say a bridge is "deficient" but I don't believe that they are saying that the bridge will collapse within 10 years if major work isn't done. I doubt it. they have money, they need to spend it and will find deficiencies to keep the money flowing.

Transportation FAQs | The American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA)
WHAT IS THE CONDITION OF THE NATION’S HIGHWAY NETWORK?

There are two measures that are used to assess the condition of the nation’s highways. One focuses on physical conditions, i.e., whether the roadways and bridges are in good repair. The other focuses on performance, i.e., whether the system is providing adequate transportation services to meet the nation’s needs.
Unfortunately, U.S. highways do poorly under either measure.
Physical Conditions
The Federal Highway Administration tracks the state of repair on 892,163 miles of major highways that are eligible for federal aid. In 2012, the latest data available, the FHWA found that 182,872 miles, or 20.5 percent, were in poor or mediocre condition and needed repaving or even more substantive repairs.
Highways in rural areas are in somewhat better condition, with 15.1 percent of rural miles in poor or mediocre condition, than those in urban areas, where 32.1 percent of miles need repairs. Urban highways carry more traffic and thus get more wear and tear. The nation’s Interstate Highways are in relatively good condition, with only 1.8 percent of rural miles and 5.0 percent of urban miles in poor or mediocre repair. Other highways, however, are in much worse shape, particularly in urban areas where more than one third of all arterial and collector miles are in poor or mediocre condition.
There is no information on condition of the 3.2 million miles of local roads and rural minor connectors that are not eligible for federal aid. But if the same 20.5 percent are in poor or mediocre condition, then 656,039 miles of these roads would also be in need of repair. (Source: 2012 Highway Statistics, Tables HM-63 and HM-64).
Bridges: The Federal Highway Administration‘s 2013 National Bridge Inventory shows that 146,598, or 24.2 percent, of the nation’s 605,471 bridges (excluding Puerto Rico) are either structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. This includes 63,207 structurally deficient bridges (10.4 percent), which are safe to use but need significant maintenance or repair to remain in service, and 83,391 functionally obsolete bridges (13.8 percent) which may be in good repair but fail to meet current design standards, such as lane width, shoulder width or overhead clearance and thus need to be upgraded when they are replaced. (Source: National Bridge Inventory, 2013)
In recent years, state and local highway agencies have been investing heavily in bridge maintenance and repairs. As a result, bridge conditions have been improving. Between 1998 and 2012, the number of deficient bridges fell from 29.5 percent to 24.2 percent. The improvement was concentrated in structurally deficient bridges, which declined from 16.0 percent of all bridges to 10.4 percent. The number of functionally obsolete bridges actually increased, from 13.6 percent to 13.8 percent.