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[quote user="dakotafred"] Sam1 quote:  City streets and county roads are funded with property taxes.  <div style="clear:both;"></div> [/quote] Sam1 is off the mark here. It's true that a lot of work on strictly residential streets is borne solely by the adjacent property owner. (Although a prosperous town like my Bismarck, N.D., usually helps out with city sales-tax money.) But I guarantee you, feeder or arterial streets in every important city in every state are on a state DOT list that is helped out with federal funding, usually to the tune of 80 or 90 percent -- same as out on the highway. The point is BIG federal bucks behind concrete, and who cares if the arterial in Bismarck -- or I-94 across North Dakota -- covers its expenses? The justification is transportation. (Even the New York or Florida driver would miss I-94 if it turned into a cow path at the N.D. state line.) In the same way, corridor passenger rail can be justified in places like North Carolina, when it so obviously serves a public purpose.  [/quote] Between 90 and 95 per cent of the cost of the streets in Dallas, TX, where I lived for 33 years, are funded from property taxes.  True, some of the arterial streets are funded with DOT monies, but they constitute a small portion of the total.  Anyone who drives around Dallas or any other major city in Texas, where the funding ratios are similar, can see it.   Prior to 2002 city streets in Dallas were built and maintained on a pay as you go basis.  Beginning in 2002 the city began borrowing money for the maintenance of its streets, in part because of depressed revenues as a result of the recession that was experienced in 2001 to 2003.  Funding city streets and county roads with property taxes is a bad idea for at least two reasons.  First, the cost is not reflected in the price of driving at the pump, so motorists don't realize the true cost of driving.  If the true cost was reflected at the pump, many motorists would opt for more fuel efficient vehicles and alternate modes of transport, including passenger rail.  If politicians were not politicians, they could push the cost of local streets and country roads through the price of fuels at the pump and off-set the increase with a corresponding reduction of property taxes.  Of course, it probably will never happen. The other downside effect of relying on property taxes for city streets can be seen in hundreds of small communities in Texas.  This is especially true in west Texas.  The main street through town is usually a federal or state highway.  It is usually in good shape.  But most of the city streets in these towns, especially in west Texas, are in poor shape.  Why?  Because they are maintained with property taxes.  Unfortunately, most of the towns in west Texas, outside of the oil patch, have fallen on hard times.  Their property tax base, as a result, has shrunk in value, thereby generating fewer property tax dollars and, therefore, fewer dollars to maintain the local streets.  Don't take my word for it, however,  Go have a look.
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