When state fuel taxes are raised, politicians moan about crumbling roads and bridges....and then turn around and use the fuel tax as their budget-rescuing slush fund and spend the rest on so-called transportation projects like choo-choo trains and college geeks’ solar cars along with cash lavished on one ‘multi-modal study’ after another. These studies discover nothing and solve nothing but they keep armies of bureaucrats employed.
Meanwhile, the roads and bridges remain untouched.
PS - the fuel tax is, perhaps unwittingly, ironclad evidence that consumption taxes produce far better results than confiscatory taxes.
+1 Excellent post. You nailed it.