Tom Warne Report, 2 February 2013
A mileage-based fee as an alternative to the gas tax was the focus of a recent study of 300 people from Maryland, the District of Columbian and Virginia as local officials remain puzzled over how to pay for the billions of dollars needed for roadwork in the region. Even though federal and state gas taxes are not raising enough revenue to repair the aging roads, bridges and transit system, people say they would prefer to see those taxes hiked than switch to a pay-per-mile system, according to a report issued this week by the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board.
The participants in the focus groups organized by the board said they wanted congestion reduced, and better transportation, but had little desire to pay more to get them.
As Maryland’s transportation trust fund is expected to be bankrupt in the next five years, the current legislative session is looking at raising the 23-cent-per-gallon gas tax, impose a sales tax on gasoline or take no action. Gov. Martin O’Malley failed to get approval of a 6 percent sales tax on gasoline last year, and his legislative package this year did not include another attempt at that effort.
Virginia’s Gov. Robert F. McDonnell has proposed replacing the state’s 17.5-cent gas tax with a sales tax.
The focus groups virtually all agreed that congestion serious problem but most were unaware of how transportation work has been paid for over the past 50 years. The most popular option of the several presented to raise transportation funding was increasing the gas tax, but even that option only had 30 percent support from the study participants. Replacing the gas tax with a mileage-based charge had half as many support it – 15 percent – and 28 percent said they may be in favor of tolls on new roads. Only 15 percent said they support implementing tolls on existing roads.
Study participants were anxious to see more money spent on transportation, despite their unwillingness to back options that would cost them money. Over 75 percent said they wanted more spent on transit systems, 53 percent wanted more to go to roads, and 58 percent supported increased funding for pedestrian and bicycle projects.
The story is the same in nearly every state and community. People want the improvements but don’t want to pay for them or hope that some tax imposed on an unseen person or a faraway corporation will foot the bill. Sadly, our society has come to expect something for nothing. When it comes to taxation a definite cause and effect relationship exists. Raise the tax on diesel fuel and the price of your milk goes up. Lower the amount of sales tax going to your transit agency and services get reduced. The math is simple and the concept straightforward. A few weeks ago here in the Tom Warne Report we noted that the gas tax in Wyoming is still 14 cents after 38 years. Many states are at or approaching the 20-year mark since they raised the motor fuel tax. You don’t have to be a financial wizard to realize that what you bought 38 years ago for 14 cents can no longer be purchased for anywhere near that amount. Considering inflation the equivalent of 14 cents 38 years ago is 65 cents today. TW