Gas tax, Tex
When I lived in Baltimore, I often visited Washington, D.C., and paid the $1.10 base fare to ride Metrorail. When I moved here, the fare had just increased to $1.20. Last summer, it went to $1.35. It's still a steal if you ask me, but the rapid increases over the past few years to make up for a lack of dedicated funding and several years of no increases are worse for farther-out commuters, some of whom pay close to $4 each way for a 40-minute ride.
The price for public transportation rises regularly because of higher costs to run the service and the fact that in most cases, an appointed board approves fare increases.
Drivers, who pay for the road system partially through a gasoline tax, find themselves buffered from price rises because a tax needs to be changed by elected lawmakers, who are much less willing to raise taxes than an appointed board. And since gas taxes are measured in cents-per-gallon and not as a percentage of the cost of the fuel, tax has declined in real terms as many states have dithered.
Texas, of all backwards places, is considering indexing their gasoline tax to cut down on the political factor. Not a bad idea.
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rj3 | 9:11 AM |
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I never realized how low gas taxes were back home - 20 cents/gallon. Aren't they nearly 50 cents in Mont. Co., after you take state and county tax into account?
Gas tax in Germany - 75 Eurocents (about $1 right now).
Per LITER.
