With higher gas prices pushing more people to take public transportation, the collection of gasoline taxes will decrease. This revenue is used to fund infrastructure, so the move to mass transit will put further strain on U.S. infrastructure investment. Additionally, the move to alternative fuels collects no tax, so it doesn’t pay for the roadway.
This Catch-22 was revealed by Patrick Natale, president of American Society of Civil Engineers, in an on-air interview (5 minutes) on CNBC. The subject of the discussion was whether there’s a silver lining to $4 gas. While higher gas prices will reduce emissions, we’ll need to turn to other funding mechanisms in order to keep up with declining infrastructure.
The experts suggested that we’ll need to turn to more public/private partnerships and create more toll roads in order to deal with the shortfall in funds. With the economy slumping, there’s little political will to increase taxes to further compound the financial pinch that most Americans are feeling.
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Yes, toll roads may be part of the answer. America’s free ride is about over in many different ways. Driving often in Orlando, FL (aka you can’t get there from here without quarters), tolls are an annoying reality. Further, don’t you think that whatever new fuel infrastructure is developed–whether hydrogen, diverse biofuels, etc., that a revenue source will be attached to continue to support the roadway infrastructure? I can’t imagine anything being developed and sold without it being taxed.