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> no Federal provision was made for their maintenance. That's not quite true. The federal gas tax was created specifically to fund the construction and mainten
by timoth3y 6y ago
> no Federal provision was made for their maintenance.
That's not quite true. The federal gas tax was created specifically to fund the construction and maintenance of roads and bridges. States add their own taxes onto this.
The problem is not that no one thought about maintenance. It's that politicians have not raised the gas tax in about 30 years. Thus, steadily shrinking the amount of real dollars available for maintenance.
It's not a lack of foresight. It's a lack of political will.
- solatic 6y agoActually, the first federal gasoline taxes in the US predate the interstate highway system and were part of a bill that raised taxes on a variety of goods in the name of general revenue. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revenue_Act_of_1932 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revenue_Act_of_1932 and therefore not really related to maintenance. Furthermore, a great proportion of gasoline tax revenue in the modern era is not spent on highway maintenance but rather diverted to other earmarked purposes https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_taxes_in_the_United_States https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_taxes_in_the_United_Sta... A lack of political will might prevent Congress from raising the tax that would most economically efficiently raise revenue for highway maintenance, but it is not the primary roadblock (what is it with me and the puns today?) that prevents Congress from spending less-economically-efficiently-raised funds on infrastructure maintenance.