Letters to the Editor
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Perverse on many levels
Almost all road infrastructure improvements are funded through fuel taxes. Our infrastructure is already woefully underbuilt in many areas of the country due to increasing population and urbanization and fuel taxes that have not increased since 1993. This underbuilt infrastructure leads to congestion in many parts of the country. Millions of vehicles a day sit idling unnecessarily in rush hour traffic. Productivity suffers. Local air pollution worsens.
The current push within Republic circles is the privatization of roadways--which has been shown to be woefully inefficient (nearly 25% of toll revenues are consumed by the toll-collecting infrastructure) in comparison to the gasoline tax (less that 1% of revenues consumed by collection infrastructure). Of course, the tolls are collected by companies with big checks to give the Republicans though. I work for one of the most highway dependent, anti-tax, anti-government regulation industries in the nation (trucking), and even trucking companies are begging for an increase in the fuel tax to reduce congestion. It's unbeleivable.
We need an increase in the nation fuel tax. We need a policy in place to make sure that that increase keeps pace with inflation. We need corresponding policies that force urban areas to make responsible decisions about long-term growth planning. We don't need county-level officials making decisions to allow tract house development 50 miles from a city center. We need corresponding policies that encourage the purchase of highly fuel efficient vehicles. We don't need billions of dollars going to Ford to develop fuel efficient vehicles (that wont be an issue if demand is there). We need long-term strategies for reducing automobile reliance while recognizing that in the short-term most Americans are stuck in cul-de-sacs with long commutes.