In a January 10 editorial, the New York Times approved Obama’s big spending stimulus plan but complained about his plans to continue the past era of tax cuts. One of part of the approved plan is $500 billion to bolster unemployment benefits, aid to states, and for investment in the nation’s crumbling and outdated infrastructure.
In an article critical of the Times editorial, Don Feder of Accuracy in Media rightly observed that “no matter how much the states get for highway repairs (from the gas tax, general revenue, tolls and federal aid), the infrastructure is still crumbling and outdated.”
The question taxpayers and gasoline consumers should be asking is why that is. The national average tax on gasoline is 47 cents per gallon. That means the amount of gas taxes collected by federal, state and local governments to maintain our roadways is a meager $66.5 billion a year. And the federal government returns to the states 90.5% of its portion of the national gas tax, which is 18.4 percent.
Are states using their part of the tax pie for projects other than maintaining our roadways?
We could probably define Obama’s plan as a pork-barrel bailout stimulating welfare program–what do you think?