Infrastucture and the road to ruin
Source:Editor's Blog
However, while the green lobby are clapping their hands with glee, there’s an unfortunate bi-product to all this. Gas tax is levied on each gallon sold… and what does the federal government do with the money it collects from gas tax? It pumps it – no pun intended –back into highway building and maintenance across many states.
Last month, it’s reported, the Government collected US$2 billion less in gas taxes over the first five months of 2008 than it did in the same period 2007. Frightening, isn’t it, how our dependency on fossil fuels has become an albatross around our necks. We’re like a planet of ‘oil junkies’ – all worrying about where our next fix is coming from. Well, unless we live in the Middle East, that is.
Hungry for votes in the run-up to the presidential elections, both Republic and Democrats promised a 90-day gas tax holiday. Sensibly seeing beyond the electioneering, and taking a wider and more responsible perspective, Congress shelved such a questionable idea.
However, the dilemma remains. With less revenue inevitably coming in (no politician would be professionally suicidal enough to raise fuel tax at this juncture), highways will inevitably deteriorate and supply chains will suffer. The American construction industry must find smarter, cheaper ways to work and federal government must support those new methodologies.
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