Americans Oppose Gas Tax to Repair Roads

The highway repair problem shares a great deal in common with other large national priorities that have fallen behind the pace necessary for them to fulfill their promises to the public, whether those are for education or jobs.

Every few months, one of the associations of engineers or public planners issues a report showing that the level of repairs needed on America’s highways and bridges goes into the hundreds of billions of dollars. The most well known of these is the annual American Society of Civil Engineers “Report Card for American Infrastructure.” In last year’s report, the association put the shortfall at $3.6 trillion through 2020. The study includes structures like dams and airports, but a great deal of the work is on the roads and bridges, which are used most frequently by travelers.

According to a new Gallup poll on state gas tax hikes to fund repairs:

Two-thirds of Americans would vote against a state law that would increase the gas tax by up to 20 cents a gallon, with the revenue going toward improving roads and bridges and building more mass transit. Three in 10 Americans would vote for an increase in the gas tax in their state.

With the average price of a gallon of regular gasoline on a nationwide basis at $3.50, the 20 cents would be a 6% increase. With gas prices already high, and real income trapped in a narrow range, some people may feel they cannot afford the tax. Others fall into the category of those who oppose any taxes at all — present or future.

Americans already think there is a good chance their taxes will be raised to pay for the growing federal deficit. Many economists believe that, in a slow economy, almost all taxes are regressive. Under those circumstances, a gas tax has no chance. That puts the chance at zero that any money will be put into the nation’s roads.

Methodology: Results for this Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted April 9 and 10, 2013, on the Gallup Daily tracking survey, with a random sample of 1,018 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.