Posted on 01/07/2009 9:04:20 AM PST by Halfmanhalfamazing
Billions of dollars collected from motorists from gasoline taxes, tolls, and registration fees are being diverted by state and local governments into uses that have nothing to do with roads and highways.
According to the latest figures from the Federal Highway Administration, motorists gave state and local government $40.3 billion in 2005 for the ability to drive and own a vehicle. Gasoline taxes accounted for $20.5 billion in revenue while registration fees and miscellaneous taxes generated $13.5 billion. State and local toll roads also collected $6.4 billion from motorists.
After accounting for administration and overhead, $28.5 billion remained for all fifty states to spend in 2005. Of this amount, only $13 billion was spent on state and local road construction and maintenance.
A total of $8.9 billion of motorists' money was diverted into unrelated uses. A total of $1.4 billion went to mass transit and $7.5 billion was used for social spending. The remaining amount went to related uses such as paying down transportation debt and funding highway law enforcement.
Selected spending tables from Highway Statistics 2005 are available in a 140k PDF file at the source link below.
(Excerpt) Read more at thenewspaper.com ...
Instead of raising taxes, the government should simply stop dipping into the pot for miscellaneous vote buying projects.
Road taxes are for *GASP!!!!* roads. What a concept!
Reauthorization of TEA-21: A Primer on Reforming the Federal Highway and Transit Programs
The amount of dipping into the highway trust fund is staggering. Skip the tax increases, fix the holes in the boat.
Until this year, $2 out of every $5 in Missouri road use taxes went to other state agencies.
Frustrating.
I think it’s pretty naive to be surprised by this.
Now they are complaining they don't have enough money to finish the next section of the I-295 loop in north Fayetteville.
ANY new taxes are a waste until accountability is made for that already in place.
Need to do what Newt was unable to do, i.e - zero based budgeting and yearly rejustification of projects.
Well, at least the feds are saving the S.S. witholding taxes to use for its intended purpose!
I'd be shocked if it weren't so.
California has been doing this for years. That’s why our roads have gone to hell. They need to stop putting everything into the general fund. Once money goes into a general fund, you loose all track of it. That’s what the Pelosi’s and crew want.
I started looking and it would seem that, by and large, states governed by pubbies have good roads - the reverse, the reverse - except maybe in Maine, where ‘flatlanders’ have moved in in the last few decades and turned the state from deep red to blue. Maine's roads are in good condition.
This is a routine practice at all levels of government. You can’t buy votes by fixing roads and bridges.
Road taxes have been diverted to bicycle paths for a long time.
Eric, do you have any documentation for this corrupt practice? It does not surprise me.
Also, we need to email this to the media regulars...FOX, Greta, O’Reilly, RUSH, et all =
the public will not likely ever see it in this publication.
This is sort of like setting grilled steak down in front of your dog before you go to work and ordering it NOT to touch the steak.
"motorists gave state and local government $40.3 billion in 2005.... After accounting for administration and overhead, $28.5 billion remained
So "accounting and administration costs" amounted to $12 billion!
I was involved with a transportation planning quango in the mid 90s. The unspoken subtext of everything they did was the elimination of the car by legal, political or other means.
Of course this resulted in dozens of pie-in-the-sky proposals (light rail etc.) and a 10-12 year delay in correcting longstanding problems such as the number of lanes, interchanges, etc. One joker took it upon himself to canoe up a polluted stream (read: open sewer) every year to ‘raise awareness.’ Judging from the look of his clothing, desk, and personal grooming it was probably difficult for him to notice the pollution in the first place. Hippies smell!
Effectively these groups take 10-15% of tax revenue and waste it - all the while congratulating themselves.
This reminds me of those tobacco lawsuits. Some states sued the tobacco companies and got huge settlements. The money was supposed to go into escrow to promote no smoking policies and healthy living programs. Poof! The money was used for everything under the sun, except meaningful anti-smoking programs.
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