Old 04-25-12, 09:16 AM
  #31  
Ridefreemc
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Originally Posted by Ridefreemc
If you or anyone else runs across that statistic I would be very interested to see it.
I think I answered my own question.

This article doesn't support much of our statements, but I do not think it is accurate. What it does not include are the subsidies given to oil/gas companies and the auto industry for example and it does not discuss the actual subsidies:

http://www.newgeography.com/content/...hways-a-primer

Here is a good statement to remember when discussing these things though:

"There is a simple way to tell the difference between subsidies and user payments. With subsidies you pay whether or not you use the service. In contrast, with user fees, you don’t pay if you don’t use. People who don’t use electricity from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power don’t pay and people who don’t use the highways don’t pay either."

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This article is more in-line with what we hear on this forum (and likely more accurate):

http://t4america.org/blog/2009/12/11...ly-subsidized/

Good quote there:

"Of the 18.4 cent federal gasoline tax, 2.86 cents – about 15 percent – is directed toward mass transit projects, and an additional 0.1 cent toward environmental clean-up, according to the report. That leaves more than 80 percent strictly for highways. Even if we spent 100 percent of gas tax revenues on highways, only 65 percent of their total cost would be covered. There would still be a need for significant outside revenue – in other words, subsidies. Does that mean highways are “government waste?” Or are transportation dollars an investment to provide access to jobs and movement of goods?"

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Here is a good related article/study that will help you justify your ditching of the auto for personal reasons:

http://www.1000fof.org/PUBS/lanes/1000ene6.pdf

Or try this quote:

"Highway construction. It’s estimated that
the costs of highway construction, improvement
and repair totaled $33.3 billion in 1989
(MacKenzie, Dower & Chen 1992.) About 60
percent of these costs were paid directly by drivers
in the form of gas taxes, tolls and other user fees.
The remaining 40 percent, or $13 billion, was
subsidized — predominantly from state and local
government property and sales taxes."

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Another:

http://www.assmotax.org/Releases/AMC...%20Subsidy.php

And this:

"To what extent is automobile use a "free" good? According to Hart and Spivak, government subsidies for highways and parking alone amount to between 8 and 10 percent of our gross national product, the equivalent of a fuel tax of approximately $3.50 per gallon. If this tax were to account for "soft" costs such as pollution cleanup and emergency medical treatment, it would he as high as $9.00 per galion. The cost of these subsidies-approximately $5,000 per car per year-is passed directly on to the American citizen in the form of increased prices for products or, more often, as income, property, and sales taxes. This means that the hidden costs of driving are paid by everyone: not just drivers, but also those too old or too poor to drive a car. And these people suffer doubly, as the very transit systems they count on for mobility have gone out of business, unable to compete with the heavily subsidized highways.1 "

Last edited by Ridefreemc; 04-25-12 at 09:21 AM.
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