It is apparent that the budgets of a number of our states are suffering financially. California is on the verge of bankruptcy. Here in Pennsylvania, the infrastructure is slowly deteriorating. The Keystone State is so-named because if you are traveling east or west through the northeast, it is difficult to do so without going through Pennsylvania. Our roads and bridges are crumbling to the point that there our Governor Rendell has considered leasing the turnpike to foreign owners, hoping that the interest drawn on the principle of the lease will be enough to continue to keep the Pennsylvania Turnpike the quality road it has been since the 1930s.
Not four years ago, the Pennsylvania officials raised turnpike tolls more than 40%. I complained to a toll taker who replied, “but you won’t see another rise in tolls for a very long time”. I guess four years is defined as a “very long time”, since January of 2009 saw an additional rise in tolls by 25%. I routinely traveled the turnpike from
Donegal to Carlisle which cost 5.50 in 2004. Now, that cost will be $10.00. I now routinely take route 40 to I-68, picking up I-70 to I-81 ending up in Carlisle, PA. It is an additional 20 miles costing another gallon of gas but even at $4.00 a gallon (much less today), it is still less expensive.
In Pennsylvania, many take I-80 to cross the state on the way to New England. It is currently a non-toll road. Governor Rendell has proposed to toll I-80 but his request was turned down by the federal government. In addition, those Pennsylvanians living in the I-80 corridor were opposed to tolling the road because of the effect it will have on their commutes even though plans were proposed to exempt the locals from limited use of I-80. Those of us who live in the southern half of Pennsylvania have always had to deal with turnpike tolls.
Now, Oregon is considering passing a bill which will tax vehicles dependent upon how fuel efficient they are. With Americans turning to more fuel efficient cars, less gas tax is being collected…the monies that support our highway infrastructure. There is a movement afoot to install GPS monitors in new vehicles that will monitor the number of miles traveled on Oregon highways. Since fuel efficient cars pay less in taxes because they use less gas and therefore pay less in gas taxes, they will be taxed at a rate higher than Hummers. A number of other states are considering a similar approach including Pennsylvania.
A governmental think tank has taken an entirely different tack, suggesting that an additional dime added to the federal gas tax will take care of the fall in gas tax revenue and still maintain the public’s interest in fuel efficient vehicles. Still other sources believe, rightfully so, that highway damage is directly proportional to the weight of vehicles using the highway. They believe that taxes should be increased according to the weight of the vehicle. Interstate trucking already pays considerably more than those driving passenger vehicles in the form of added tolls and the cost of diesel fuel.
However, we must break our dependency on foreign fuels even if it means adding a dime to the gas tax and subsidizing fuel efficient cars. If we turn our back on this opportunity to overcome our addiction to OPEC oil, I’m trading my Prius in on a Hummer.
