Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri and
Michigan legislators are all faced with voters who want first class roads, but
don’t want to pay for building or maintaining them. Illinois’ Department of
Transportation projects that current revenue sources will provide less than 20%
of projected highway funding needs for the next fiscal year. Wisconsin Governor
Scott Walker opposes bonds to fund that state’s road and bridge budget, but
also he opposes increasing motor fuel taxes or vehicle registration fees to
bolster revenue for surface transportation needs. Last August Missouri voters
soundly defeated a proposed $0.0034 retail sales tax for roads and bridges, and this spring the
Missouri legislature killed a 2 cents per gallon motor fuel tax hike. As a
result Missouri lacks the cash to meet federal highway grant matching
requirements, and MDOT says its entire budget will be consumed by maintenance
requirements.
Michigan’s
Proposal 15-1 would have increased that state’s retail sales tax to fund
education and surface transportation programs, but it went down to voter defeat
by a margin of 4 to 1 against. Republicans in the Michigan House responded with
a bill to raise diesel fuel taxes and vehicle registration fees, and end the
state’s low income earned income tax credit, but the Michigan Senate seems
poised to kill that measure.
Even if these hard hit states could
come up with the cash required to meet federal grant matching requirements,
there I no certainty that federal funds will continue to be available at
current levels over the long term. Midwestern drivers will be steering around
potholes and keeping an extra spare tire in the trunk for years to come, it
seems.
