Login
or
Register
Home
»
Trains Magazine
»
Forums
»
Passenger
»
A different Approach All together
Edit post
Edit your reply below.
Post Body
Enter your post below.
<p>The federal government does not own any highways. The states control the federal roadways that pass through them. They build them and they oversee their maintenance. The federal government collects a variety of taxes from users and transfers monies from the U.S. Treasury to help pay for the federal highway system. It also sets standards for the highways so that they are essentially the same from state to state. But there are allowable differences, i.e. speed limits, pavements, etc. </p> <p>The federal government funds approximately 80 per cent of the federal highway system, with the states picking up the remainder, although in some locations the funding formula can be different. The federal highway system includes all federal highways. It is not just the interstate system.</p> <p>The United States spends an average of $160 billion a year on roadways. Approximately 25 per cent of the monies are collected and distributed by the federal government. The remainder are funded by state fuel and use taxes and property taxes.</p> <p>Most of the roadways in rural Texas, the largest network in the nation, are funded by the state and counties through which the roadways pass. The federal government has nothing to do with them.</p> <p>The author is espousing what I have been saying from the get go. Stop subsidizing all modes of transport and allow the best mode to emerge. Subsidies distort the pricing mechanism and cause sub-optimum behavior, e.g. Americans tend to favor large, gas guzzling vehicles because the true cost of gasoline is not reflected at the pump.</p> <p>Passenger rail probably can be viable in relatively short, high density corridors, without the need for massive subsidies if all transport subsidies are removed. </p> <p>I would have the federal government collect user fees (fuel taxes, fees, etc.) as it does now. But I would make sure that it collects enough from the users so that it does not have to raid the general fund to make up any shortfalls. I would also consider tolling the interstate system, as well as any other limited federal and state access highways. In fact this is what is being done in Texas because the federal and state politicians have been unwilling to raised the fuel taxes to meet the needs. </p> <p>It is not practicable to toll roads with open access, i.e. county roads, local streets, etc. I would pay for them with fuel taxes imposed on motorists at the pump, which would help reflect the true cost of driving, offset by a corresponding reduction in property taxes. This could raised the price a gasoline by $1 to $1.50 per gallon, which would cause many motorists to rethink the size of vehicle that they drive, how far from work to live, and whether public transport is a good options. </p>
Tags (Optional)
Tags are keywords that get attached to your post. They are used to categorize your submission and make it easier to search for. To add tags to your post type a tag into the box below and click the "Add Tag" button.
Add Tag
Update Reply
Join our Community!
Our community is
FREE
to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.
Login »
Register »
Search the Community
Newsletter Sign-Up
By signing up you may also receive occasional reader surveys and special offers from Trains magazine.Please view our
privacy policy
More great sites from Kalmbach Media
Terms Of Use
|
Privacy Policy
|
Copyright Policy