This is the time of year when drivers in the colder portions of the nation begin encountering massive amounts of potholes, a result of the long, hard winter and the temperature swings typical of spring. As they try to protect their tires and axles by swerving from lane to lane, they wonder why all the taxes and fees they pay (income taxes, property taxes, gas taxes, sales taxes, tolls, car registration, etc.) don’t provide enough revenue to keep the roads adequately repaired.
Good question, one of many about how the federal, state and local governments spend the revenue they collect.
Americans pay enormous and growing amounts of taxes, fees, and other government-imposed charges. Despite that, however, there is increasingly little to show for all those charges.
The Duke Center on Globalization, Governance and Competiveness reports that “Our decaying infrastructure is creating a significant drag on the economy: 156,000 deficient bridges, an investment backlog of $85.9 billion for our nation’s roads, and $200 billion annually in lost economic activity from inefficient rail transportation.”
In 2014, the New York Analysis of Policy & Government noted that The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) had issued a “report card” on the nation’s infrastructure. The overall rate, covering items such as dams, drinking water, waste systems, levees, transportation, bridges, waterways, ports, rail, roads, mass transit, parks, schools, and energy was a lowly D+.
The Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress stated that “America’s infrastructure has fallen in rank from 6th in the world to 25th in just the past 5 years…aging transportation infrastructure is expected to increase the cost of business in America by an estimated $430 billion in the next decade.”
The fact is that viagra purchase on line is said to be the best cure for many ailments. Accordingly, increased appetite, and if not to limit food intake, it cialis canada generic is, on the contrary, leads to an increase in local astringent action (often, by the way, is used in the treatment of bowel dysfunction, diarrhea of various origins, with hypersecretion of glands). Lack of side effects and long lasting result rather try now order cialis canada than temporary result. If you are as an example affected by angina pectoris, also known or known as as vardenafil generic chest pain, 1 from the prescribed medicines is nitrates. 32% of American roads are in poor or mediocre condition, and 25% of bridges are rated as structurally deficient. The American Automobile Association (AAA) notes that many of the 30,000 deaths that occur on U.S. highways are “attributable to the direct result of inadequate lighting, poor signage or outdated road design that might have been prevented by fixing unsafe roads.”
Many infrastructure needs were supposed to be addressed by all that ($787 billion) Stimulus money, but most were not. In some cases, dollars were spent foolishly, on projects such as bike lanes, instead of on major, urgently needed transportation needs. Other examples, cited in a Fiscal Times report: $2 million was spent on a “replica railroad,” a tourist attraction, not a transportation need in Nevada, and $1 million was spent on beefing up security on cruise ships.
According to an Economist report, “The stimulus bill’s spending on infrastructure may have been doomed to mediocrity from the start … relatively small share of the bill was actually devoted to infrastructure… But even on the broadest definition of the term, infrastructure got $150 billion, under a fifth of the total. Just $64 billion, or 8% of the total, went to roads, public transport, rail, bridges, aviation and wastewater systems…”
Of all the dollars that should have been used for infrastructure, those coming from Washington are the most misused. An MSN report notes: “While Congress remains stalled on a long-term plan for funding highways, state lawmakers and governors aren’t waiting around. Nearly one-third of the states have approved measures this year that could collectively raise billions of dollars through higher fuel taxes, vehicle fees and bonds to repair old bridges and roads and relieve traffic congestion, according to an analysis by The Associated Press. The surge of activity means at least half of the states — from coast to coast, in both Republican and Democratic areas — now have passed transportation funding measures since 2013.”
But all that spending may not help. Streetsblog notes:
“The idea that decrepit roads are caused by a lack of money is widespread…the sorry state of American transportation infrastructure is mainly the result of wasteful spending choices, not a lack of funding. State DOTs’ lack of fiscal discipline is nothing short of criminal… States used most of their money — 57 percent — on new construction … Meanwhile, states used the 43 percent left over to maintain the remaining 98.7 percent of road infrastructure. This is a recipe for ruin.”