I'll give you one sniff to guess what it is full of:
"Poll: Americans diverge on how to pay for highways" by Joan Lowy and Jennifer Agiesta | Associated Press August 06, 2014
WASHINGTON — A majority of Americans think the economic benefits of good transportation outweigh the cost to taxpayers, but they can’t agree on how to pay for new highways or repairs of old ones, an Associated Press-GfKpoll shows.
Six in 10 people surveyed said the cost of good highways, railroads, and airports is justified by their benefits. Among those who drive places multiple times per week, 62 percent say the benefits outweigh the costs. Among those who drive less than once a week or not at all, 55 percent say the costs are worthwhile.
Yet a majority of Americans bristle at the most commonly proposed ideas from public officials and industry. For example, 58 percent oppose raising federal gas taxes to fund transportation projects. Only 14 percent support an increase. And by a better than 2-to-1 margin, Americans oppose having private companies pay for the construction of new roads and bridges in exchange for the right to charge tolls. Moving to a usage tax based on how many miles a vehicle drives also draws more opposition than support: 40 percent oppose it, while 20 percent support it.
Support for shifting more responsibility for paying for such projects to state and local government is a tepid 30 percent.
Congress has kept federal highway and transit programs on the edge of insolvency for years, unable to find a politically acceptable long-term source of funds.
‘‘Congress is actually reflecting what people want,’’ said Joshua Schank, chief executive of the Eno Center for Transportation, a think tank. ‘‘People want to have a federal [transportation] program and they don’t want to pay for it.’’
I'm sick of that money going to Israel, the war machine, Wall Street, well-connected corporations, and the funding of lavish political lifestyles, you insulting piece of shit. We already paid for the roads. This government collects plenty of taxes; the problem is they steal the money.
Last week, Congress cobbled together $10.8 billion to keep transportation aid flowing to states by changing how employers fund worker pension programs, extending customs fees, and transferring money from a fund to repair leaking underground fuel tanks. The money was needed to make up a shortfall between aid promised to states and revenue raised by the federal 18.4 cents-per-gallon gas tax and the 24.4 cents-per-gallon diesel tax, which haven’t risen in more than 20 years.
It’s the fifth time in six years Congress has patched a hole in the Highway Trust Fund, which pays for highway and transit aid. Each time it gets more difficult to find money without increasing the federal deficit. Critics described the pension funding changes used this time as budget gimmicks that would cost the government more in the long run and undermine employee pension programs.
The current fix is expected to cover the revenue gap only through May, when Congress will be back where it started unless lawmakers act sooner.
The most direct solution would be to raise fuel taxes. That’s what three blue-ribbon federal commissions have recommended. But opposition cuts across party lines.
In the survey, 35 percent said the quality of the roads and bridges where they live is getting worse, while 25 percent think their roads and bridges are improving.
About 4 in 10 respondents said their local roads and bridges are neither improving nor worsening.
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