(and note this state is smack at the stopover point of the main feeder pipelines that supply the whole east coast.)
source: Winston-Salem Journal
The gas tax, currently at 29.9 cents a gallon, is under fire from those who want legislators to cap it, and polls show that voters don't want it to go any higher.
In January, the gas tax increased by 2.8 cents a gallon, the biggest jump in 20 years. Gov. Mike Easley and the state Senate have proposed spending plans recently to cap the tax at the current level, in part to prevent it from increasing next year.
-snip-
"We have probably the biggest challenge and the biggest problem facing our legislature in the next few years: how to fix our highways," said state Sen. David Hoyle, D-Gaston, a former member of the N.C. Board of Transportation.
Legislators don't want money just for highways - they also want it for bus service, airport improvements and rail. Charlotte is building the first leg of a light-rail system, and some leaders in the Triangle and the Triad want to start similar projects.
-snip-
State government has planned to spend $2.5 billion on transportation this year, with the federal government contributing an additional $856 million to the state.
-snip-
He disputes that there is a crisis in how the state pays for roads. Rather than finding new sources of money, he said that legislators should end the annual transfer of money from the Highway Trust Fund to the state's General Fund.
In 1989, state legislators and Gov. Jim Martin, a Republican, raised the state gasoline tax and created the Highway Trust Fund, which was designed as the first state fund dedicated to road construction.
The transfer from the trust fund has occurred every year. It's intended to make up for money that, until 1989, had gone to the General Fund, and this year the transfer was $253 million. Legislators have voted to reduce the transfer by $80 million next year while leaving most of it in place to pay for education, health-care and other services.
"I just don't think that we would be in the situation we're in if they had kept their hands out of the cookie jar," Graham said.
-snip-
"They (state officials) build roads to nowhere, and they leave the roads that are already congested even more congested," Coletti said.
Now, tell me, where is there reason to reduce the gas tax. It pays for so much. Like funding the general fund for the state, that hasn't for years been balanced. Is there a shortage there? No. In fact, NC is on the actual stopover point where the pipelines from the refineries travel through on the way up the coast. They will NEVER be out of fuel. They will never have to truck it in. Almost every state on that pipeline has some of the highest taxes applied to its consumption. I haven't researched it but I wouldn't be surprised if all the states fed from that pipeline network have had considerable difficulties balancing their own general budgets.
I can show you all kinds of sources that easily demonstrate that there is no shortage of oil anywhere.
But I cant demonstrate any sources explaining why the states use their gas tax like an interest-free trust fund to pay for their spending habits.
So next time someone says 'its all about supply and demand', ask them why a fifth of the retail price of gas is just for taxes. And if they say its for 'roads and maintenance',..ask them to demonstrate it. They cant.
