Although 60% of people believe the economic benefits of good quality highways outweigh the cost to taxpayers, there isn’t agreement on how to pay for them, an AP poll has found. The poll, conducted in July 2014, found that 58% of respondents opposed raising the federal gas tax to pay for transportation projects, with only 14% supporting the idea. The federal gas tax of 18.4 cents has not increased since 1993.
The poll also found that 17% of respondents support turning over highway construction projects to private companies in exchange for the right to impose tolls (46% opposed); 30% support having state and local governments take over responsibility for these projects from the federal government (22% opposed); and 20% favor replacing the gas tax with a tax based on the number of miles a vehicle is driven (40% opposed).
Congress has also been unable to agree on a long-term solution for maintaining and repairing the highway system, agreeing this summer on a temporary solution that will end in May 2015. “Congress is actually reflecting what people want,” according to Joshua Schank, the president of a transportation think tank quoted by the AP. “People want to have a federal transportation program and they don’t want to pay for it.”
