Almost three quarters of Americans are
willing to pay increased taxes and tolls to fund road construction and other
transportation initiatives according to a survey taken by Missouri-based
engineering firm, HNTB Corp. This percentage of citizens increased to 84% in
agreement of increased taxes if such funds would be legally mandated towards
infrastructure. The reason this has not already been enacted is that taxpayers
fear their money is being diverted into other, lower-priority functions of the
federal and state government’s choosing. For example, when New Jersey had a gas
tax hike in order to compromise the sales tax cut, Governor Chris Christie had
to stop construction projects due to a funds drought. The United States as a nation is
currently facing a large infrastructure backlog. The American Society of Civil
Engineers has projected the fall to be around $1.44 billion short for the next
decade of infrastructure spending. This begs the question of whether to seek a
private outsider partnership to help complete the necessary transportation
assets in the future. When President Donald Trump took office, he promised a $1
trillion infrastructure program. However, surveys following this revealed
nearly half of Americans lacked interest in paying higher taxes to fund it. The
willingness of paying these higher taxes is directly in result of a desire to
avoid road congestion and save travel time. This conflict in the public is
very obvious and it will be interesting to see what actions are taken.
It will definitely be interesting to see how these outstanding projects will be continued going forward. A large portion of this problem most likely stemmed from the government forecasting the expenses of these projects incorrectly. I believe the best move would be for the government to pull back on new projects and focus on the projects that still need to be completed.
ReplyDeleteThis is a good sign that people wish to have improvements for infrastructure, which may lead to a more positive outcome economically as well. It may come as a bit of a burden to taxpayers, but hopefully the US government uses it to improve the roads and make their citizens have a more convenient life.
ReplyDeleteIt is a bit surprising to see that such a high percentage of people are willing to pay higher taxes. It shows that people are willing to pay the government taxes whenever their money is being used in a way that will benefit them. Maybe the government will start to use the tax money to work on what the people want, rather than just what they want.
ReplyDeleteEconomics aside, the theory of people being willing to pay more tax in order to see more improvement in their daily life is simple. One would be more willing to pay a bit more in tax for a smooth and perhaps more safe drive to work. (If one lives near/around a major infrastructure change) One would be less inclined to pay more in tax when their money goes toward programs they are completely unaware of. Or, if they simply don't know where their increase in tax cost goes! I think this is very interesting and look forward to what will happen in the coming future. Potentially we could see an increase in Consumer Confidence? If we are seeing consumers/taxpayers willing to spend more money on tax?
ReplyDeleteI like how people are wanting to out more towards infrastructure. This could be very beneficial to the way cities move traffic in and out with less traffic jams. I do agree tho projects should be finished before other projects that are promised by the government are started this will not clog an area with three or 4 different projects all happening at the same time. I can see taxes going up if enough people are willing to get taxed at a higher rate for infrastructure purposes.
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