The True Costs of Driving

By JOE CORTRIGHT, The Atlantic

A report published earlier this year confirms, in tremendous detail, a very basic fact of transportation that’s widely disbelieved: Drivers don’t come close to paying for the costs of the roads they use. Published jointly by the Frontier Group and the U.S. PIRG Education Fund, “Who Pays for Roads?” exposes the myth that drivers are covering what they’re using.

The report documents that the amount that road users pay through gas taxes now accounts for less than half of what’s spent to maintain and expand the road system. The resulting shortfall is made up from other sources of tax revenue at the state and local levels, generated by drivers and non-drivers alike. This subsidizing of car ownership costs the typical household about $1,100 per year—over and above the costs of gas taxes, tolls, and other user fees.
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https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/10/driving-true-costs/412237/

[B' Spokes: Or how I like to explain it, motoring taxes and fees basically pays for for the Interstates. You know, roads where bike and pedestrians are not allowed, roads with an "I" and some numbers. All other roads we all pay for, they are no more for "only cars" than your local park, school or library. Any way a good read and makes you wonder why we throw so much money after something that has so little benefit per cost.]

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