Uncle Sam Wants you to....Drive More?

[Chuck]

The Highway Trust Fund depends on more driving, but people are traveling less

Daniel Gross - Newsweek - July 31, 2008

Looks like an update of our energy policy is in order -- Ed.

The Transportation Department reported that Americans drove 9.6 billion fewer miles in May 2008 than in May 2007, a 3.7 percent drop. The result: rising demand for mass transit and declining revenues for the Federal Highway Trust Fund, which is funded by gas taxes. The Bush administration's counterintuitive policy response, as the New York Times reported, has been for the Highway Trust Fund to borrow funds from the department's mass-transit account… [Read More]

[JusBringIt]

What!? Thos is actually quite humorous... Let me go spend money I dont have to drive places I don't want to go so the gov't can have excess money to spend on their gas guzzlers. Better yet, why don't I speed a bit more and guzzle some more terrorist fluid. God this makes me madd!

[basjoos]

If people are driving less, then there should be reduced wear and tear on the roads, reducing some of the costs of maintaining it and the pressure for building/widening new roads.

[Earthling]

Originally Posted by basjoos

If people are driving less, then there should be reduced wear and tear on the roads, reducing some of the costs of maintaining it and the pressure for building/widening new roads.

Cars have almost no effect on roads. Large trucks are what beat roads to death. Less traffic means less has to be done to fight congestion, but on my recent trip to Long Island, the roads were clogged with traffic.

I've seen a big increase in traffic now that gasoline prices have peaked and are going down.

Harry

[Earthling]

Gas taxes must be increased, to fund road work and mass transit.

Why is that so hard for goverment to understand?

As people drive more fuel efficient cars, an increase in gasoline taxes won't be much of a bother, and if they don't switch to more fuel efficient cars, then too bad.

I've been saying all along that the government (Federal and State) have no interest in fuel economy because gasoline taxes are their golden goose. They make more off gasoline sales than Exxon-Mobil. And that's the real reason our roads are clogged with FSP 's.

Harry

[Thumper]

Warning! Warning! JusBringit and basjoos are extremely close to recieving logic viloations. Your are attempting to apply logic to the United States goverment!

[brick]

1) Make sure that the gas tax money actually goes into the roads.
2) If money is still in shortfall, increase the tax a few cents.

Simple. Of course, they're bound to investigate such brilliant schemes as "track each car's position in real time with expensive GPS devices to implement a convoluted by-the-mile taxation scheme."

[owlmaster08]

So Ironic, the top of my screen right now has a "Support John McCain's Gas tax Moratorium" ad banner, lol.

[jamesqf]

Yeah, and I liked McCain until he came up with that one :-(

[MaxxMPG]

Originally Posted by jamesqf

Yeah, and I liked McCain until he came up with that one :-(

McCain?! Aw damn, I thought it was McBain who was running for president.



Who knows what they will do when EVs roll out onto the highways? If you don't burn a drop of gas, there are no highway funds collected. I hope they don't tax electricity or it will cost me more to watch McBain.