States explore new ways to tax motorists for road repair
States are looking for new ways of taxing motorists as they seek to pay for highway and bridge repair and improvements without relying on the per-gallon gasoline tax….. The efforts are being prompted by the fact that gasoline taxes no longer provide enough money to pay for roads and bridges…
According to the data found on Wikipedia, "the federal tax on gasoline is 18.4 cents per gallon. In 2006, the federal tax on motor fuels yielded $28.2 billion dollars. On August 15, 2007, then-Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters stated that about 60% of federal gas taxes are used for highway and bridge construction. The remaining 40% goes to earmarked programs. The federal tax on motor fuels yielded $28.2 billion in 2006. In 2008 the fund required an additional $8 billion from general taxation in order to meet its obligations. Further transfers of $7 billion and $19.5 billion were made in 2009 and 2010 respectively."
So, 40 cents of every dollar collected at the pump for road construction was being spent on other things (earmarks) in 2007, and we wound up with an $8 billion shortage in the fund in 2008.
According to my calculation, without the pilfering of the highway trust fund for earmarks, there would have been (using the 2006 income figures) $11.2 billion more in the trust fund in 2008, and minus the $8 billion needed, there should have been a $3.2 billion surplus.
With this kind of bureaucratic shuffling going on, there will constantly be shortfalls. We'll never get the budget in order until we start using funds strictly for the purpose for which they are collected.
-fl