"there's no money to do it just now"
There's over $40 billion a year in federal gas taxes going into the Highway Trust Fund. More than enough to cover federal highway infrastructure costs. There's another roughly $100 billion a year in state and local gas taxes going into state and local budgets, ostensibly for road construction and maintenance.
The problem is, government being government, those pots of money are raided for all sorts of other things, including mass transit -- regardless of cost efficiencies.
"I like that Reagan put some of the money collected by his gas tax towards public transit, too, and would definitely favor doing so again now."
It might be more accurate to say, Tip O'Neil, George Mitchell and their colleagues wrote into the 1982 Transportation bill, a requirement that 20% of the near-doubling of the Gas Tax be directed to the then newly-created Mass Transit Trust Fund (from the Highway Trust Fund). It was a good idea, well-meaning idea, but the execution, as with much of government, was atrocious and grossly inefficient. The majority of that money never made it to any useful purpose, other than supporting the creation of new bureaucracies. Even in the instances where some of the money actually went to real projects, they were often ridiculously economically inefficient, and produced little benefit. Take the south Florida Metrorail boondoggle. After two decades of operation, the numbers are clear: on a per rider basis, it would have been cheaper by a factor of 2 to have purchased each rider a brand new limousine and paid for a personal driver.
You know, of course, that I'm a big supporter of mass transit and public transportation. But there must be economic efficiencies and sensibilities. As a society, we don't have infinite capital for unlimited application. Spending wisely is more critical today than ever before.
"I think a raised gas tax is a good idea. ... But it takes Republicans like Eisenhower, Reagan, and Bush to put it into practice, apparently."
Ouch. I think that's a re-writing of history. The more than doubling of the gas tax took place during Reagan's term, true. But that emanated from a Democratic Congress, was over Reagan and his administration's objections - and done only in trade for Congress giving Reagan his massive military increases. In a nutshell, O'Neil and Co. gave Reagan huge increases in military spending which they didn't like or want, but in return got Reagan's complicity in sweeping expansion of social programs and "hidden" increases for General Revenue.
AI
