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A different Approach All together
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<p>[quote user="cx500"]</p> <p><strong>"Highways: End federal ownership of them and give ownership of them to local governments or turn them into private toll roads. Make it so they have to cover their cost because for the most part they only cover about 60% of their cost with tolls and gas taxes."</strong></p> <p>But I don't understand why you say "Give". They should be SOLD into private hands, whether owned by the Feds, the state or the municipality. The new puchaser can then charge tolls and make a profit. The various levels of government all win. The seller gains a windfall from the sale. Then the local municipality can tax the right of way and all the improvements such as bridges and interchanges, thus balancing its own books. And of course the new owner will now have the responsibility for fixing pot holes and the like, so don't bother calling your local elected representative. The new owner also will pay income taxes on the profit he makes from operating the road. </p> <p>Of course your own neighborhood crescent generates very little traffic so the toll to drive to the neighborhood store will be punitive if the new owner is to make a profit. Probably it will be closed and you will have to walk several blocks before reaching a road that is still in operation. But it is hard to justify keeping the road open for just a few people, and the vast majority will never need to use your street. And the new owners may decide the large tracts of land presently used as interchanges may be more profitably redeveloped with warehouses, theme parks, shopping centers or new residential subdivisions.</p> <p>Yes. the preceding is mostly tongue-in-cheek. Ending subsidies is a wonderful idea in theory. But in reality many transportation subsidies are hidden, either calling them by another name or simply keeping the cost, or opportunity cost, off the balance sheet. Railroads, since they are private in both fixed plant and operations, do not enjoy the same level of hidden benefits that most other transportation modes do. </p> <p>John [/quote]</p> <p>The probability of ending transport subsidies is very low. The federal highway bill is one of Washington's biggest pork bills. The politicians are not likely to give it up.</p> <p>The railroads get some hidden subsidies. Recently the Norfolk and Southern, as well as CSX, got ARRA monies to daylight some tunnels so that they can run double stack trains from the east coast to the heartland. They also got some low cost government loans. Also, the railroads pay no fuel taxes on the diesel that they burn, but the truckers with whom they compete pay substantial diesel fuel taxes, etc. I don't know whether they offset. And this is the major problem with subsidies. At the end of the day most people don't know what who gets what.</p>
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