Speaking of letters to the editor

New ramp at the Springfield I-495/I-95 interchange in Virginia. The reconstruction and expansion of the freeway cost approximately $700 million. Washington Post photo: Robert Reeder.

This is one from August 23rd, in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, that has been in my craw ever since.

Politicians Squander Gasoline Taxes, Mark Johnson, Midlothian, Virginia:

The recent letter from Ray D. Pethtel is one of the most startling things I've read in some time. Pethtel, identified by you as a past transportation commissioner, laments the fact that "only 16 percent of the cost of gasoline today is a result of state and federal taxes."

Let's get this straight: Fully one-sixth of what I pay to gas up my beat-up pickup truck doesn't fund exploration for future oil or natural gas deposits and their development. It doesn't go toward research of alternative energy sources; it doesn't go to the greedy oil companies as profit; it's not used in any way to reduce our dependence on foreign sources for energy. It goes to state or federal coffers to be spent on, presumably, transportation.

Forty-eight cents of the $2.85 I paid for a gallon of gasoline today goes to the government -- and we still have transportation woes? This is not a revenue problem; this is a problem with government.

The last biennial budget passed by the General Assembly was for $74 billion, the one previous was for $62 billion. Somewhere in that $6-billionper-year increase is enough money to address any transportation issues. That's what voters were saying in the Mason-Dixon poll Pethtel tries to discount.
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Dude! Only 50% of the cost of roads are covered by gas taxes and registration fees. And, the more roads you build, the more money required for ongoing maintenance and repair, something that op-ed and editorial writer A. Barton Hinkle of the Times-Dispatch points out quite a bit.

Blame the politicians all you want. But avoid looking in the mirror if you don't want to be clued into "the real problem."

Reference: Improving Efficiency and Equity in Transportation Finance, Brookings Institution

Index Keywords: sprawl; car-culture