Wednesday, 30 April 2008

Gas Tax Holiday -- A Vacation from Common Sense

The debate in Washington and on the campaign trail continues to focus on the idea of "gas tax holiday."  ASCE and other transportation and business organizations continue to oppose this short-sighted solution.  Earlier this week Senator Hillary Clinton endorsed Senator John McCain's "gas tax holiday" proposal, though she called for a reimbursement of the federal Highway Trust Fund. The "gas tax holiday" concept received "2 Pinnochios" in a Washington Post article. Other media weighing in on the issue included the Huffington Post.  Even with the reimbursement this is simply bad public policy.  ASCE continues to communicate our position to members of congress.

 According to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, suspending collection of the motor fuels tax during the high-mileage summer months would reduce the balance of the Highway Trust Fund by $9 billion, and at best, save motorists an average of only $28. 

Proposals holding the Highway Trust Fund harmless by reimbursing the Trust Fund with general fund revenues are poor public policy because they would establish a precedent for suspending collections needed to finance highways, bridges and transit programs.

ASCE will continue to educate members of Congress and the media about negative effects of the "gas tax holiday" proposal.

 UPDATE 5.01.08: Front Page of the Washington Post has story on growing number of people opposing the plan.

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Tuesday, 29 April 2008

Vonnegut says it all

Another flaw in the human character is that everybody wants to build and nobody wants to do maintenance.
 - Kurt Vonnegut

A few days ago the above was one of the quotes of the day on my Google homepage.  It caught my attention because Vonnegut is one of my favorite authors and I had never heard it before.

Kurt, (who, by the way, died just over a year ago - RIP), understood one of the problems we face today.  Why is it that we are unwilling to fix things?  Why are we unwilling to keep things in working condition?  What is it about the human psyche that makes us unwilling to put resources back into maintaining what we have already built?

Unfortunately, I cannot answer those questions.  I can’t tell you the why.  All I can do is look at the consequences.

The rapidly accelerating deterioration of our nation’s infrastructure, combined with the general reduction in investment to preserve and enhance our quality of life, is cause for great concern.  The 2005 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure estimates that a $1.6 trillion investment will be needed to bring the nation’s infrastructure up to an acceptable condition.  Ignoring this backlog until systems fail will incur even more costs.

We need to change the attitude prevailing in our nation today.  We need to shift over to one that will help us achieve and maintain an efficient and effective infrastructure.

Until we do, our infrastructure will continue to crumble and as Kurt would say, “So it goes.”
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