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A similar thing happens with the discussion about gas prices, except the schema is reversed. In Europe, infrastructure fees are paid at the pump. In the US, a l
by mmanfrin 14y ago
A similar thing happens with the discussion about gas prices, except the schema is reversed. In Europe, infrastructure fees are paid at the pump. In the US, a lot of our income taxes go to paying for those road fees and maintenance.
- nowarninglabel 14y agoI was a bit skeptical that road costs took a lot of our income taxes, so I looked it up. It was, at least, more than I thought it'd be. The U.S. will spend $65.3 billion of income tax payments on ground transportation costs in fiscal 2012, at least half of which is on highway costs.
- twoodfin 14y agoWhere do you get that figure? Does "ground transportation" include rail? Wikipedia saith that, as of 2007, 93.5% of the Federal contribution to the Interstate Highway System was funded by gas and vehicle taxes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_Highways#Financing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_Highways#Financing And it notes that 1/6th of gas taxes and other user fee-like financing mechanisms are diverted toward public transit.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- bduerst 14y agoYou both could be right.
- nowarninglabel 14y agoSorry for not looping back earlier, it's from http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/united_states_total_spending_pie_chart#download http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/united_states_total_spen... which is getting its data from a few sources but I think for the transportation piece you can look on page 125 here http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BUDGET-2012-BUD/pdf/BUDGET-2012-BUD.pdf http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BUDGET-2012-BUD/pdf/BUDGET-2012... but may want to cross-reference with the other sources.
- gxs 14y agoNot trolling here, genuinely curious: I thought that our 19 cents/gallon tax on gasoline is what is used for road repairs etc. Is this not the case?
- luser001 14y agoMaybe you can start digging from here: See here: https://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/newsgraphics/2011/0119-budget/ https://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/newsgraphics/2011/0119... And here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_taxes_in_the_United_States#Federal_taxes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_taxes_in_the_United_State... $25 billion received via gas taxes at the federal level in 2006 (60% spent on roads). $70 billion spent by feds in 2012.
- joshuahedlund 14y agoIn theory, yes. But it hasn't been raised since the 90's and since it's a per-gallon tax and not a percent tax, its funding has decreased as Americans buy more efficient cars and thus fewer gallons of gas. I don't have links, but I've seen graphs indicating that the fund regularly runs at a shortfall now, and getting worse.
- MichaelSalib 14y agoIn practice, the gas tax covers only a small portion of road maintenance costs. http://www.subsidyscope.com/transportation/direct-expenditures/highways/funding/analysis/ http://www.subsidyscope.com/transportation/direct-expenditur...
- colomon 14y agoI think pricing for a lot of things has a large component of historical pricing in it. My favorite example: the price of books in the US and Canada. Just grabbed a random recent hardcover off my shelves. It's labeled "USA $25.95 Canada $32.50". I believe that price differential got established back when the US dollar was worth $1.25 Canadian -- but it still exists, even though the two currencies are now roughly on par. It's the exact same product with what is effectively a 25% markup for Canadians for no good reason.
- bencxr 14y agoThis may be true to some degree, but I suspect less than it would suggest. Not all the bookshops follow the price on the cover.
- colomon 14y agoTrue, but that's true in the US too. Unless you're suggesting many bookstores in Canada routinely offer a 25% discount on most books, my point still holds.