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Not trolling here, genuinely curious:

I thought that our 19 cents/gallon tax on gasoline is what is used for road repairs etc. Is this not the case?



In theory, yes. But it hasn't been raised since the 90's and since it's a per-gallon tax and not a percent tax, its funding has decreased as Americans buy more efficient cars and thus fewer gallons of gas. I don't have links, but I've seen graphs indicating that the fund regularly runs at a shortfall now, and getting worse.


Maybe you can start digging from here: See here: https://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/newsgraphics/2011/0119...

And here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_taxes_in_the_United_State...

$25 billion received via gas taxes at the federal level in 2006 (60% spent on roads). $70 billion spent by feds in 2012.


In practice, the gas tax covers only a small portion of road maintenance costs.

http://www.subsidyscope.com/transportation/direct-expenditur...




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