Wednesday, November 13, 2024
Hawai'i Free Press

Current Articles | Archives

Friday, September 18, 2015
Federal Funds for Road Building? Hawaii Dead Last
By Selected News Articles @ 6:52 PM :: 4852 Views :: Hawaii Statistics, Taxes

How Is Your State’s Road Spending Funded?

by Jared Walczak, The Tax Foundation, September 16, 2015

The share of infrastructure expenditures funded by tolls, user fees, and user taxes ranges from 14.2 percent in Alaska to 86.4 percent in Hawaii. Within the continental United States, Florida relies the most on dedicated transportation revenues (71.7 percent), while Wyoming (21.0 percent) relies on them the least. States that substantially export their taxes (like Alaska and Wyoming, where severance taxes account for a considerable share of state revenue) keep transportation taxes low in the same way they keep all taxes on state residents low, by—in significant part—generating revenue through the states’ extractive industries. Beyond that, however, states run the gamut.

As Joe Henchman has written previously:

The lion’s share of transportation funding should come from user fees (amounts a user pays directly for a service the user receives, such as tolls) and user taxes (amounts a user pays, based on usage, for transportation, such as fuel and motor vehicle license taxes). When road funding comes from a mix of tolls and gasoline taxes, the people that use the roads bear a sizeable portion of the cost. By contrast, funding transportation out of general revenue makes roads “free,” and consequently, overused or congested—often the precise problem transportation spending programs are meant to solve.

Nationwide in 2012, tolls, user fees, and user taxes accounted for just 49.9 percent of all state and local expenses on highways, roads, and bridges. Motor fuel taxes are often politically unpopular, but actually pass the benefits test quite well compared to most taxes. States should seek to fund infrastructure from user taxes and fees to the greatest degree possible, internalizing the costs associated with the utilization of states’ transportation grids.

Click on map to enlarge.

---30---

Meanwhile:

May 1, 2015: While Pushing Rail, State Fails to Use $820M in Federal Highway Funds

Sept 1, 2015: Takai Plan: Loot Highway Funds to pay for Rail

Links

TEXT "follow HawaiiFreePress" to 40404

Register to Vote

2aHawaii

Aloha Pregnancy Care Center

AntiPlanner

Antonio Gramsci Reading List

A Place for Women in Waipio

Ballotpedia Hawaii

Broken Trust

Build More Hawaiian Homes Working Group

Christian Homeschoolers of Hawaii

Cliff Slater's Second Opinion

DVids Hawaii

FIRE

Fix Oahu!

Frontline: The Fixers

Genetic Literacy Project

Grassroot Institute

Habele.org

Hawaii Aquarium Fish Report

Hawaii Aviation Preservation Society

Hawaii Catholic TV

Hawaii Christian Coalition

Hawaii Cigar Association

Hawaii ConCon Info

Hawaii Debt Clock

Hawaii Defense Foundation

Hawaii Family Forum

Hawaii Farmers and Ranchers United

Hawaii Farmer's Daughter

Hawaii Federation of Republican Women

Hawaii History Blog

Hawaii Jihadi Trial

Hawaii Legal News

Hawaii Legal Short-Term Rental Alliance

Hawaii Matters

Hawaii Military History

Hawaii's Partnership for Appropriate & Compassionate Care

Hawaii Public Charter School Network

Hawaii Rifle Association

Hawaii Shippers Council

Hawaii Together

HiFiCo

Hiram Fong Papers

Homeschool Legal Defense Hawaii

Honolulu Navy League

Honolulu Traffic

House Minority Blog

Imua TMT

Inouye-Kwock, NYT 1992

Inside the Nature Conservancy

Inverse Condemnation

July 4 in Hawaii

Land and Power in Hawaii

Lessons in Firearm Education

Lingle Years

Managed Care Matters -- Hawaii

MentalIllnessPolicy.org

Missile Defense Advocacy

MIS Veterans Hawaii

NAMI Hawaii

Natatorium.org

National Parents Org Hawaii

NFIB Hawaii News

NRA-ILA Hawaii

Obookiah

OHA Lies

Opt Out Today

Patients Rights Council Hawaii

Practical Policy Institute of Hawaii

Pritchett Cartoons

Pro-GMO Hawaii

RailRipoff.com

Rental by Owner Awareness Assn

Research Institute for Hawaii USA

Rick Hamada Show

RJ Rummel

School Choice in Hawaii

SenatorFong.com

Talking Tax

Tax Foundation of Hawaii

The Real Hanabusa

Time Out Honolulu

Trustee Akina KWO Columns

Waagey.org

West Maui Taxpayers Association

What Natalie Thinks

Whole Life Hawaii