Today’s cars are getting better gas mileage than ever before. Great, right? I mean, that’s good news for your wallet and less impact on the environment. So basically it’s a win-win situation. But some state governments aren’t seeing it that way. You see, the less fuel you purchase, the less tax money goes to state and federal governments to fix roadways.
The Dallas-Fort Worth area is one of those places feeling the pinch. According to the Texas Transportation Institute at Texas A&M University, since 1982 traffic in Dallas-Fort Worth has deteriorated more than any other US metro area except Washington, D.C. In fact, a 2009 report from the Texas Transportation Institute reports that travelers in the Dallas-Fort Worth area spend an average of 53 hours per year in gridlock. And if estimates are correct, soon there will be no money left to repair these roads and bridges. So what’s the answer? Go back to gas-guzzling cars to pump more fuel tax back into the state and federal governments?
Some officials have suggested allowing the gas tax to increase in proportion to vehicle fuel efficiency, so that fuel tax revenue would remain the same. (In Texas, the fuel tax is currently 38.4 cents per gallon in combined state and federal taxes). For this method to work, taxes would have to increase to 74.5 cents per gallon by 2035 – just to keep tax revenues at current levels. And really, who wants another tax hike? Not me.
And then there are transportation experts who believe a mileage tax could be the answer. That would involve taxing the number of miles a car drives. Ok, maybe they have a point there, but really? Who is going to record and collect all of that data? Will more tax money be spent to hire people for those positions? Or maybe technology will be used to track miles. Again – who is going to pay for this? And doesn’t this send up some privacy red flags?
Of course there’s always the option to do nothing and let roads and bridges become hazardous and possibly even impassable. But on the other hand, isn’t it the government’s responsibility (either local, state or federal) to maintain our roadways? It looks like nobody’s going to win this one.
