Still more on tolls and gas taxes

Today's Chron story on the Texas Transportation Institute study and the pushback it's gotten adds a few new points to the discussion.

Chairman Michael Stevens, a Houston developer, said the gasoline tax would pay for all the highway-construction needs in major urban areas. He said it would not eliminate toll roads but would be used for construction and highway expansion.

I don't oppose tolld roads. Toll roads are a necessary part of the transportation landscape. What I oppose, and what the TTI backs me up on, is the idea that the only way we'll be able to pay for Texas' future transportation needs is by going to an all-toll-roads, all-the-time philosophy. I always thought it was a bad idea that would be far more costly to drivers than a gas tax increase would be, and now I have solid evidence to prove that the whole TransTexas Corridor concept is based on erroneous assumptions.

While the report said toll roads could be an important part of building and maintaining highways in Texas, it emphasized that an indexed gas tax could pay for most of the state's highway needs.

The report said investing $66 billion in highway improvements over the next 25 years could save consumers $37 billion in fuel costs by easing congestion.

"They'd pay a little bit more for gasoline but use less gasoline," Stevens said.

Without knowing all of the details in the report, that strikes me as optimistic. Road congestion will always be with us. If it's easier to drive, people will adapt their habits to drive more. I see this as a cycle, a process, not an end that can ever be fully met.

The Texas Department of Transportation estimates that the funding shortfall for state and local highways through 2030 will be $86 billion, the report said. That is why Williamson and Perry have been pushing toll roads.

But the business council report said the transportation department's estimates include almost $22 billion in local highway construction that is paid for by local governments. It said when that and other factors are taken into account, the state actually will be about $56 billion short of paying for its highway needs.

The report said the entire state shortfall could be paid for with an initial fuel-tax increase of 12 cents a gallon.

As a reminder, that would give Texas a 32-cent-per-gallon gas tax. That would make Texas one of the higher gas tax states (we're #36 now, as I recall), but it would put us more in line with other high-population states like California (still the champ at 39 cents), New York, and Florida.

State Rep. Mike Krusee, R-Round Rock, carried the fuel-tax inflation index bill before. He said the index proposed in the business council report would be far more expensive for consumers than his index.

He said his would increase the tax at a rate of about 2 cents a year compared to a nickel for the alternative.

"You're talking about large increases in the gas tax forever," Krusee said of the council report.

You mean "until a future Legislature decides to undo the proposed indexing plan in some fashion", which I can just about guarantee will eventually happen. If and when the gas tax gets too high, the pressure to Do Something About It will become unbearable. That's what's happening now with property taxes, and it will happen with gas taxes.

Further reading: The Highwaymen, in the current issue of the Texas Observer. Eye on Williamson has some excerpts to get you started. Expect there to be more on this in the coming months as well - Governor Perry has not yet announced where he stands on this report yet, for one thing. What happens next is not at all clear.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on December 15, 2006 to Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | TrackBack