John Oliver Takes On Our Awful Infrastructure
Something else to worry about. Nice.
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It really doesn’t hold any water when he realizes that we have a terrible infrastructure, but also wants to give government more money to manage it. I live in NJ, with the highest property taxes in the nation, a higher than almost all state income tax, and tolls basically every mile. I literally pay $100 a month to get to work, just on tolls. And our roads are awful. It’s not a lack of money, it’s a lack of competence/incentive. Maybe it’s time to look to a source other than government to manage our infrastructure? Maybe it’s time to (gasp) privatize the roads?
But without government who will build the roads? Surely no one else can possess the knowledge or skill to build something so complex.
Property tax typically covers education, so I’m not sure why that’s relevant here. Because of higher fuel efficiency, tolls on roads (even the incredibly ridiculous Jersey Turnpike) don’t really cover the costs of repairing the roads anymore. We could stop subsidizing gasoline, but that would be unpopular, even when gas prices bounce back.
Infrastructure is actually something where it’s good to borrow for. The interest rates are almost negative, and the return is a hundredfold. It’s not like borrowing to cover entitlements, or military spending.
They are doing the same in SC. A ton of the tax money we pay in the upstate gets funneled to the Charleston area because it’s a tourist draw, then they want to raise taxes on us to repair roads. It’s not a lack of money, but that they can’t manage what we already pay.
That’s funny. In VA, Northern VA accounts for almost 60% in revenue (and has the highest population growth compared to the rest of the state), yet the roads are atrocious because Richmond would rather divert resources to anywhere but there. States’ priorities can be bonkers.
Richmond sure does love cobblestone though