Ah, potholes. A blessing (more like a curse) from the commuter gods. Everyone loves a good pothole joke until YOU'RE the one who blows a tire! You know what everyone else loves? Wondering how in the world our tax money goes to fix those buggers.
How much of YOUR taxes go to road repairs? Are potholes fixed by gas taxes alone? And will the current way we do things hold up as the years go by? Keep reading to get all your rubber burning questions answered!
While gas taxes do go towards state and local road repairs, these projects also get their money elsewhere. Today, much of the cost of building and maintaining highways comes from general taxes, like income and sales taxes.
In the 1960s and early 1970s, gas taxes and other driver fees covered over 70 percent of the costs of highway construction and maintenance. However, because of our current BFF inflation, that percentage is on a major decline. People are also driving more fuel-efficient cars, and many in bigger metro areas are trading their cars for scooters. #VespaLife
This is leaving some infrastructure planners scratching their heads under their hard hats. Will we be able to continue with the status quo? If roads fall into disrepair, you could wind up paying hundreds more per year in road-related car damages, like blown tires and busted windshields. And no one wants to pay more taxes on top of extra auto repair bills.
Wanna look smart at your next dinner party? Check out these quick facts on road repairs:
As you can see, paving roads and filling potholes is a big job with a larger-than-life budget. And it might be a little bit *too* large-and-in-charge for the current way we fund things. So what does that mean for the future?
The problem with relying on gas taxes to patch all of our pothole woes is that it hasn't been adjusted for inflation. That's big-brain speak for...those dollars will only fill half of the hole.
Although things like tolls and other driving-related fees are a pain in the muffler, combined with gas taxes they're needed to make sure our roads get fixed. But today, in many states, roads are looking a lot more Highway to Hell and a lot less Yellow Brick Road.
It looks like we'll soon need to rely on some other sources of funding to get the job done. Some suggestions include jacking up public parking fees and vehicle miles traveled (VMT) taxes, meaning you'll be paying for every wheel turned on your favorite highway.
Guess what? The President doesn't care about your potholes...but your local & state government reps do! Here’s three small things you can do that make a BIG impact:
