Just one problem. It does take money to build and maintain roads. A lot of money.
If the money does not come from a gas tax or a tax on miles driven, it will have to come from some other type of tax. Which do you propose? Income, sales, property, estate?
The alternative, of course, is to cut back on highway construction and maintenance, but then many people already complain about inadequate maintenance.
I’m sure a lot of money is wasted by the road departments, but at some point cutting back on funding results in a lower level of quality. That’s the cost of lower taxes in this case.
“Just one problem. It does take money to build and maintain roads. A lot of money....”
In case you’ve not been paying attention....the LACK of taxation in the USA is NOT the problem. Its the spending.
Specifically, spending on individual humans...welfare, “healthcare” etc...not spending for the common good and need..the real reason governments are needed.
I propose that we confiscate 1/2 of the net worth of 'rats each year to fund their government.
Diverting Gas Tax Money to Sidewalks and Transit Hurts Highways
http://reason.org/blog/show/diverting-gas-tax-money-to-sid
Study says highway fix funds could come from fuel taxes if money not diverted
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2565875/posts
Gas tax are the main source of highway and road money, but bonds are another big source. Every election cycle we in California have bond issues to pay for road work, and most of them pass. Many of them are for quite a lot of money. People don’t even mind paying for this since they know they are getting a smooth safe road for their money. It is when the money is hijacked or goes to transit they did not approve, or gets eaten away in useless environmental studies, or is spent inefficiently - that is when people get furious.
People don’t mind spending gas tax money & bond money for roads if they know their money is not being squandered and wasted or on a bridge to nowhere.
As you said ... it takes much more money than actually required. It costs a million dollars a mile because there is one guy working and seventeen guys standing around watching him. These Obamabucks projects (and those beautiful $10k signs) that I've seen in several states lately are about to give me an aneurysm.
Get your monies worth out of the construction company and you can get better roads and actually lower taxes.
Well, it probably depends on the state. Many highway departments are notoriously corrupt, and waste money by the bucketfull. Maine and Massachusetts are two that I know of, and I’m sure there are more.
Some corruption is inevitable. But we don’t need massive corruption.
Ok...take the money from the $123,000,000,000,000 pot of money that is wasted on everything but fixing the roads and fix the damn roads, just stay the hell out of my pockets.
It takes the money collected for roads to GO TO ROADS.
One of my sons is a long hauler - roll into California or Illinois or PA or other long time democrat run states and you need a kidney belt to ride the roads - cross the line into long time Republican states and ride like a cream puff.
There needs to be watch dogs to keep of where track of the money really goes.