March 24, 2008
CNN Money on Federal Gas Taxes
Higher Fuel Taxes Won't Help Anything
For thoughtful fiscal conservatives, taxing motor fuels and vehicles to pay for the roads they traverse is among the least-objectionable forms of taxation in American government.
These taxes solved our transportation system's main pricing problem—that most of our highways and streets have, as a practical matter, had to offer unlimited access and thus couldn't be tolled—by essentially tethering how much drivers pay to how much they drive.
On second thought, fiscal conservatives should still oppose any increase in the federal gas tax. Here's why:
There's nothing magical about "federal" funding of local roads. The money doesn't come flying in from some Neverland.
Instead, the system simply compels motorists to send gobs of money to Washington every time they fill up their tanks.
The politicians in Washington then swipe one-quarter of this gas-tax money for non-highway purposes, such as building underutilized transit lines and financing the federal budget deficit.
The remainder is returned to the states, but not in ways helpful to most American drivers.
For one thing, federal highway dollars don't flow back to states in proportion to how much they pay in.
Many populous states with major transportation challenges—such as Texas, Florida, Michigan and my home state of North Carolina—have over the years been net losers.
. . .
According to the Tax Foundation, recent federal highway bills have funded the likes of an $8 million parking garage in Harlem, a $3 million film about Alaska's road system, a $2 million visitors center in rural Louisiana and $4 million in grants to automotive museums. [Read the full article.]
