Re:For a Better Economy, Add Commuter Rail?
by graycat on Sunday August 14, 2016 @03:48AM
(#12284670)
My impression is that local roads
are paid for heavily local
real estate taxes, state
roads are paid for
via state gasoline taxes,
state license fees, and
tolls, Federal roads and
bridges are paid for via
the Federal gas taxes and tolls.
My impression is that the
Federal Highway Trust Fund
is funded by Federal gas taxes
and gets used also for
purposes other than Federal
highways and bridges.
But I don't have good data. I want good data but don't have it.
E.g., there are a lot of roads and bridges that are not Federal, e.g., not the Interstate highway system. So, when I hear that the gas taxes don't pay for all the roads and bridges, I think, of course not -- e.g., my local roads and bridges are paid for heavily, maybe mostly, by local real estate taxes, and in my area that is fair -- everyone here needs the local roads and bridges.
At the federal level, Congress has been transferring money from general funds into the Highway Trust Fund every year since 2001, because the fuel tax has gone down in real terms every year since 1993.
Tolls are nice but only account for 5% of road funds in the US. To use the pejorative applied against transit projects, the "fare recovery ratio" for roads ranks below literally every transit agency in the nation.
In short, roads are highly subsidized from general revenues.