Kill the Federal Highway Trust Fund

The Highway Trust Fund was set up during the Eisenhower administration to build the Interstate highway system.  It did a good job, and by 1985 we had excellent highways running the length and breadth of the land.  The federal gasoline tax paid for all this. 
   Now that the Interstate system is built, the Highway Trust Fund is doled out to the state highway departments to maintain the Interstates.  And to do favors, like the favor Congress did for good old Tip O'Neill upon his retirement.  That favor was the Boston Big Dig,  which soaked up $14 billion, of other states tax money, to produce some very nice real estate in down town Boston.  It didn't improve traffic flow, but Boston (and only Boston) is much prettier now. 
  The Highway Trust fund is running dry now and the road contractors, highway departments, and the newsies are crying for more funding.  The Trust Fund administrator is threatening to reduce payments by August this year.  Horrors.  End of the world.  We MUST  pour more money down this rat hole.  Our senator, Jeanne Shaheen, is pressing for a federal gas tax hike to pump up the Highway Trust Fund, and to round out the state gas tax hike Maggie Hassan just blessed us with.  
  Better, would be to shut down the Highway Trust Fund altogether.  Lay off all the bureaucrats who run it. Cancel the Federal gasoline tax.  Let the states, who do the roadwork, pay for road maintanance out of state funds.  The states could even hike their gas taxes if needed.  With the Federal gas tax removed, the states could take a much bigger bite without raising the price of gas. 
   The money would be better managed if the states had to raise it them selves.  If you have to pay for it out of your own pocket, you only do essential projects.  If Uncle  Sam showers money on you, you go out and spend it quick, whether you need it or not.  If you don't spend all the free money, Uncle won't give any more next year.  Despite Obama's disbelief, the ARE shovel ready projects to soak up free money right now.  Up here we can always repave I93. 
   The Highway Trust Fund is just a batch of free money, getting poured down rat holes.  We ought to shut it off, for good.

Federal HIghway Trust Fund going dry

This comes from Neil Cavuto on Fox.  He had a couple of guests, one who called to close it down for good and one who called for pumping it up with more of my tax money. 
   Me, I think we ought to shut it down, cancel the federal gasoline tax that goes into the fund, and let the states take care of roads and bridges.  The states do most of this already.  The Federal Highway Trust Fund was started up under the Eisenhower administration.  It earmarked all the federal gasoline tax money to building the interstate highway system.  Well, the interstates are all built, have been for 30 years.  So Congress critters dole out trust fund money to their districts whether it's needed or not.  Congress critters love that part. And, surprise, the districts always find a way to spend it, all of it.  When good old Tip O'Neill retired, his numerous friends in Congress decided do something nice for good old Tip.  They funded the Big Dig in Boston, a $14 billion dollar tunnel under the center of town.  The Big Dig was still being dug years after good old Tip died.  It didn't do much to improve Boston traffic, but it did open up a lot of prime real estate in the center of town.  Contractors all over Massachusetts loved the Big Dig. 
   The states have the resources to keep the country's roads and bridges in repair.  Thrifty New Hampshire, with out either a state income tax or a state sales tax, keeps it's roads in better shape  than bigger richer New York does.  And, when the state government has to raise the money for road work, it tends to stick to necessary work and skip the frills.  You can save a lot of money that way.  And, state funded projects don't have to pay the inflated Davis-Bacon wage rates that federal projects do. 

Gas Tax Hike.

On Fox TV news Neil Cavuto was raking a Congresscritter over the coals about a gas tax hike.  The Congresscritter (his name escaped me) was bound and determined to get a gas tax hike to preserve the infrastructure.  Cavuto was hammering the Congresscritter to explain where all the billions of dollars already authorized for infrastructure had gone.  The Congresscritter clearly had no clue, and no clue about how much has been appropriated in the past. 
   Cavuto has a point.  The federal gas tax paid for building the interstate highway system.  But that is done, the system is built, has been built for the last forty years.  Routine maintenance, mowing, plowing, repaving, bridge repair, cleaning storm drains and culverts, is one hell of a lot cheaper than building the road in the first place.  The state highway departments have been taking care of it.  In well run states like New Hampshire, the asphalt is smooth and black, the stripes are bright and freshly painted, the bridges get rebuilt every thirty years or so, and the road doesn't wash out in the spring.  In poorly run states like New York, the interstates are not as well maintained, and in fact can get pretty shabby.  For instance I-95 across the Bronx.
   But that is a state problem.  If New Hampshire, with no income tax and no sales tax, can keep its interstates in good shape, there is no reason why New York (which has both) cannot do so too. 
   Either way, we don't need the feds slinging money around for "transportation" or " infrastructure".  The real needs are handled be state governments, using state tax money.  Which is the way it should be. 
    The last big federal project was the Big Dig in Boston.  Taxpayers all over the country got soaked for years to pay for a massive project that did make Boston prettier, but didn't improve the traffic flow at all.  You gotta ask, why should citizens in, say North Dakota, be paying for a project of benefit only to Boston real estate interests. 
   Cavuto has it right, we don't want to hike taxes during Great Depression 2.0 just to maintain full employment at some state road contractors.