This is an extremely tricky situation with a lot of problems and no clear solution. One thing that I believe always gets missed is how IMPORTANT the transportation network is to the entire state. The better your transportation system the faster things happen i.e. efficiency in the work place as your spend less time in transit on the road and more time being productive (in your person life and mental well being as well). Better transportation leads to a growth in business development and expansion as it is cheaper to move things from place to place thus being more marketable than areas with horrible traffic conditions (i.e. we save money on shipping for the gun stuff we buy online
). And the easier it is to get to your location, the more customers wanna visit. The better your roadways are, the safer they are as well. This may not only save your life or a loved ones life directly but it also saves everyone money as insurance rates would be lower. Honestly I could go on all night about how this issue affects your daily life in both you wallet and sanity.
Now that I've either grabbed your attention or you've skipped to the next line lets talk about the problem. Let's just look at it from a federal government level to illustrate the point. The federal gas tax of 18.4 cents per gallon hasn't change since 1993 under Clinton; however, cars have became drastically more fuel efficient in that same time period (which is a good thing, mainly for energy independence). Additionally, inflation has risen dramatically meaning that it is now significantly more expense to replace (let alone maintain) the existing roadway network. As if that wasn't enough there are also more vehicles on the road and heavier trucks which add to inefficiency but mainly degrade the pavement structure faster. Wrap that all together and you have one hell of a funding short fall which will only continue to get worse if you don't fix the problem (just look at our national debt).
So what's my solution you ask? Well the best one I've come up with is a combination. First, we keep the gas tax as it only makes since to pay for what you use BUT you change it from a flat 18.4 cents/gal to a percentage based system that will help account for inflation say 6.5%/gal (so if a gallon cost $3.00 without taxes it would be $3.195 with federal taxes only). Additionally, I would add a 1 cent sales tax to the entire state. Lets call it "Pennies for Progress" (credit York County SC for the name). Now this tax has to be handle carefully meaning that there is a limit on the amount that you can be taxed for each purchase, we'll set that cap a $1 per purchase. The next and VERY important precaution you have to take is that those funds can ONLY be used for transportation projects wether it be roads, harbors, mass transit, or airports. If this is not done, some greedy politician will steal those funds and use them towards something else (the "Affordable Care Act" comes to mind). Now I know this isn't perfect as there needs to be a better way to tax electric cars and the like but it is doing SOMETHING rather than just avoiding the problem and letting it get worse. But what do I know, I only face these problems on a daily basis as an engineer that is constantly asked the same question: "when are you gonna fix that road?"