# Get rid of the federal fuel tax and the highway trust fund **URL:** \ **Category:** General Discussion\ **Created:** [March 10, 2017, 10:30pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/get-rid-of-the-federal-fuel-tax-and-the-highway-trust-fund/101064 "2017-03-10T22:30:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![jtsanders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c2a13f/32.png) [@jtsanders](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jtsanders)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2017, 11:57pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/get-rid-of-the-federal-fuel-tax-and-the-highway-trust-fund/101064/21 "2017-03-11T23:57:31Z")
There are no assistance payments, often called welfare, for able bodied adults without children in the USA. The assistance for families with children is essentially for the children, not the adults. What are you referring to, @meanjoe75fan? ---
**Author:** ![Renegade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Renegade](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Renegade)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 1:02am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/get-rid-of-the-federal-fuel-tax-and-the-highway-trust-fund/101064/22 "2017-03-12T01:02:52Z")
Do the states that have toll roads have a state fuel tax? OR Do the feds get part of the toll’s? ---
**Author:** ![Rod-Knox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a183cd/32.png) [@Rod-Knox](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Rod-Knox)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 2:11am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/get-rid-of-the-federal-fuel-tax-and-the-highway-trust-fund/101064/23 "2017-03-12T02:11:52Z")
The political shell games played with our taxes leaves US all confused and certain that we are paying too much while the undeserving pay too little and we’re often correct. But I understand that there is an effort by the current administration to remove all the waste fraud and abuse from federal programs. Soon we will be getting all that we deserve from our taxes. ---
**Author:** ![B.L.E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/848f3c/32.png) [@B.L.E](https://community.cartalk.com/u/B.L.E)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 2:35am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/get-rid-of-the-federal-fuel-tax-and-the-highway-trust-fund/101064/24 "2017-03-12T02:35:13Z")
> [@RandomTroll](#): > > Instead of taxes, everybody could pitch in 1 day a month on a road crew. I’m not sure if I want our roads built by amateurs. ---
**Author:** ![meanjoe75fan](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/meanjoe75fan/32/552_2.png) [@meanjoe75fan](https://community.cartalk.com/u/meanjoe75fan)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 6:01am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/get-rid-of-the-federal-fuel-tax-and-the-highway-trust-fund/101064/25 "2017-03-12T06:01:45Z")
I gotta tell ya…where I live (SW PA), I think there’s PLENTY of infrastructure! Heck, this fall I oiled down my frame and went looking for a “dirt road”: had to drive several miles to get to one, and I’m pretty rurally-located! I eventually found an access road to “Allegheny Lock and Dam No. 3,” and spent several miles driving up and down it. And they’re currently in the process of ripping out the old, combined sewers, and putting in separate sanitary and storm sewers, for a cost of nearly $1,000 per taxpayer! Now, the Allegheny is currently supporting healthy bass populations, and is clean enough to swim in, any time other than immediately after a big rain. As a river user, I’m better off for this upgrade…those 10 days a year I have to avoid the river…but am I a GRAND better off? Heck no! ---
**Author:** ![Barkydog](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/barkydog/32/2470_2.png) [@Barkydog](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Barkydog)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 6:46am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/get-rid-of-the-federal-fuel-tax-and-the-highway-trust-fund/101064/26 "2017-03-12T06:46:57Z")
I know there are different standards for road construction, but in our recent interstate build, some sections are concrete, some are asphalt, I imagine there are different standards for road base, rebar etc. but I a not sure of the risk reward for higher standards, but I feel the build it right often gives way to make it look good for now. @meanjoe75fan I know the issue, sanitary sewage need to be treated differently than rainwater, and it costs more money to treat sanitary sewage than rainwater. The goal is to divert rainwater to detention ponds to settle out particulate matter, before being released vs the cost of treating rain water as sewage which incurrs a greater cost, and possibly surpasses capacity of the treatment plant ---
**Author:** ![texases](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/texases/32/862_2.png) [@texases](https://community.cartalk.com/u/texases)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 6:51am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/get-rid-of-the-federal-fuel-tax-and-the-highway-trust-fund/101064/27 "2017-03-12T06:51:08Z")
Folks in Omaha aren’t so lucky: [https://www.google.com/amp/s/mobile.nytimes.com/2017/03/07/us/omahas-answer-to-costly-potholes-go-back-to-gravel-roads.amp.html](https://www.google.com/amp/s/mobile.nytimes.com/2017/03/07/us/omahas-answer-to-costly-potholes-go-back-to-gravel-roads.amp.html) ---
**Author:** ![Barkydog](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/barkydog/32/2470_2.png) [@Barkydog](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Barkydog)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 6:59am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/get-rid-of-the-federal-fuel-tax-and-the-highway-trust-fund/101064/28 "2017-03-12T06:59:05Z")
That is almost as bad as paying to remove the streetlights in Detroit to save money on electric costs. I have a few washbord roads of gravel I have to drive on occasionally, and would not want to have more. YIKES ---
**Author:** ![MikeInNH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a587f6/32.png) [@MikeInNH](https://community.cartalk.com/u/MikeInNH)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 2:28pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/get-rid-of-the-federal-fuel-tax-and-the-highway-trust-fund/101064/29 "2017-03-12T14:28:50Z")
> [@oldtimer-11](#): > > Here in the North, we need more highway funds for roads and bridges, not less. How about we take all the taxes that have been diverted to other things and put them back into fixing roads. Highway taxes in any form are ALWAYS for the general fund. They just use the disguise of road repair as a way to get people to vote for it. ---
**Author:** ![VDCdriver](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/vdcdriver/32/30_2.png) [@VDCdriver](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VDCdriver)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 2:31pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/get-rid-of-the-federal-fuel-tax-and-the-highway-trust-fund/101064/30 "2017-03-12T14:31:47Z")
> [@Renegade](#): > > Do the states that have toll roads have a state fuel tax? Yes, although the fuel tax varies considerably from state to state. > [@Renegade](#): > > Do the feds get part of the toll’s? No ---
**Author:** ![sgtrock21](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/sgtrock21/32/246_2.png) [@sgtrock21](https://community.cartalk.com/u/sgtrock21)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 4:01pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/get-rid-of-the-federal-fuel-tax-and-the-highway-trust-fund/101064/31 "2017-03-12T16:01:24Z")
What about EBT cards (food stamps)? ---
**Author:** ![jtsanders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c2a13f/32.png) [@jtsanders](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jtsanders)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 4:24pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/get-rid-of-the-federal-fuel-tax-and-the-highway-trust-fund/101064/32 "2017-03-12T16:24:54Z")
EBT cards are used to distribute money for food stamps and temporary assistance for needy families (TANF). TANF is like traditional welfare and is available for a total of 5 years during a person’s lifetime. That hardly seems likely to keep people from working. Food stamps, or supplemental nutritional assistance program (SNAP) is available to working poor, and that to me indicates that it is meant to provide food for those that can’t afford it. They are still working, though. ---
**Author:** ![Renegade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Renegade](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Renegade)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 5:57pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/get-rid-of-the-federal-fuel-tax-and-the-highway-trust-fund/101064/33 "2017-03-12T17:57:20Z")
@VDCdriver What do they do with all the toll money they collect? I do know that I spent a lot of it during over 40 years of driving on them. ---
**Author:** ![VOLVO-V70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8e8cbc/32.png) [@VOLVO-V70](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VOLVO-V70)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 6:45pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/get-rid-of-the-federal-fuel-tax-and-the-highway-trust-fund/101064/34 "2017-03-12T18:45:18Z")
> [@Renegade](#): > > What do they do with all the toll money they collect Every state is different so there is no real answer, just guesses . Besides it might be best to not know. ---
**Author:** ![RandomTroll](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/randomtroll/32/12184_2.png) [@RandomTroll](https://community.cartalk.com/u/RandomTroll)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 8:13pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/get-rid-of-the-federal-fuel-tax-and-the-highway-trust-fund/101064/35 "2017-03-12T20:13:19Z")
[quo[quote=“the\_same\_mountainbik, post:6, topic:101064, full:true”] Without these things we wouldn’t have the interstate highway system.Unfortunately, the funds started being misused by politicians to control states’ actions. [/quote] Then you’d support ending the federal fuel tax. > [@B.L.E](#): > > I’m not sure if I want our roads built by amateurs. Me neither. I’d vote for enough taxes to pave enough roads to pay professionals (citizens even) to do it. This thread has turned up a lot of anti-tax sentiment. The people who don’t want to pay taxes could build roads themselves. The point of the Militia Acts of 1792 was to defend the nation by amateurs so we didn’t have a standing army, the real purpose of the 2nd amendment. If we could count on amateurs to defend ourselves, why not to build our roads? I think roads were built by impressing subjects in feudal Europe - probably elsewhere. > [@Nevada\_545](#): > > Do you feel it would be less painful to pay for your highways at the local level rather than federal? No. A lot of people disparage the Feds and tout the superiority of local government. I don’t, but we have popular government. > [@texases](#): > > Folks in Omaha aren’t so lucky: I’ve read about this happening in Vermont too. > [@Nevada\_545](#): > > Locally we have a 1.5 billion dollar Interstate/highway interchange project beginning, I don’t think I want this project added to my property taxes, the interstate highways are used by all. Then you’d support enough federal fuel tax to pay for it, and all the other interstate highway projects around the nation? > [@meanjoe75fan](#): > > I’ll accept a fuel tax increase graciously the day gov’t convinces me that it is capable of competently stewarding said funds Which is why I don’t want it to have an army and a nuclear arsenal. > [@MikeInNH](#): > > How about we take all the taxes that have been diverted to other things and put them back into fixing roads. > > Highway taxes in any form are ALWAYS for the general fund. They just use the disguise of road repair as a way to get people to vote for it. If citizens voted out the legislators who did this they’d stop doing it. One can dedicate a bond to pay to build or maintain roads and require a tax to fund repayment, at least everywhere I’ve lived. > [@VOLVO\_V70](#): > > Every state is different so there is no real answer, just guesses . Besides it might be best to not know. Remember the scene in ‘The Pawnbroker’ when Rod Steiger confronts Brock Peters? [![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/original/3X/5/1/516e25f354bf5cc1d92de099cd8c0ea8c263b32b.jpeg "The Pawnbroker (5/8) Movie CLIP - Are You That Kind of Man? (1964) HD") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzTzSOHP_HM) ---
**Author:** ![db4690](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/db4690/32/2583_2.png) [@db4690](https://community.cartalk.com/u/db4690)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 8:55pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/get-rid-of-the-federal-fuel-tax-and-the-highway-trust-fund/101064/36 "2017-03-12T20:55:00Z")
> [@RandomTroll](#): > > Which is why I don’t want it to have an army and a nuclear arsenal. So let’s get this straight You do NOT want the US government to have an army . . . ?! What do you propose instead? ---
**Author:** ![common-sense-answer](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/common-sense-answer/32/716_2.png) [@common-sense-answer](https://community.cartalk.com/u/common-sense-answer)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 9:53pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/get-rid-of-the-federal-fuel-tax-and-the-highway-trust-fund/101064/37 "2017-03-12T21:53:40Z")
_ **“Get rid of the federal fuel tax and the highway trust fund”** _ Am I missing something? I don’t get out much, but weren’t most of the road/bridge repairs already taken care of by adding _$800 Billion Plus_ to our debt? The Obama Stimulus package for all the shovel ready jobs was for infrastructure upgrade. Problem solved. It sure seems that after that we could cut back on taxes. I mean, after all, that big national debt is just going to be kicked down the road anyhow, right? _ **CSA** _ ---
**Author:** ![sgtrock21](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/sgtrock21/32/246_2.png) [@sgtrock21](https://community.cartalk.com/u/sgtrock21)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 2:37am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/get-rid-of-the-federal-fuel-tax-and-the-highway-trust-fund/101064/38 "2017-03-13T02:37:56Z")
Accurate description of federal regulations. The states vary. I’m returning to automotive related subjects. ---
**Author:** ![Mustangman](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/mustangman/32/44130_2.png) [@Mustangman](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Mustangman)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 2:43pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/get-rid-of-the-federal-fuel-tax-and-the-highway-trust-fund/101064/39 "2017-03-13T14:43:25Z")
> [@common\_sense\_answer](#): > > but weren’t most of the road/bridge repairs already taken care of by adding $800 Billion Plus Yeah, that was the story told to us but the reality was very different. In my area, a section of highway near my home got a new asphalt cap it did not need to spend what little bit of the TARP money that was actually spent on infrastructure projects. > **[The Shovel-Ready Jobs Swindle](https://www.cagw.org/thewastewatcher/shovel-ready-jobs-swindle)** > > The money would be spent on a variety of infrastructure projects, such as improved highways, railways, and transit systems. The national infrastructure bank, according to Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), would end up functioning as a “public private... ---
**Author:** ![MikeInNH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a587f6/32.png) [@MikeInNH](https://community.cartalk.com/u/MikeInNH)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 3:09pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/get-rid-of-the-federal-fuel-tax-and-the-highway-trust-fund/101064/40 "2017-03-13T15:09:59Z")
> [@RandomTroll](#): > > One can dedicate a bond to pay to build or maintain roads and require a tax to fund repayment, at least everywhere I’ve lived. That’s true…and I’ve seen it happen in NY a few times…and the following year they vote that the money to be diverted to the general fund and scrap some of the projects that weren’t built that year. Sorry…but in MOST states all taxes for highway still go into the general fund. That’s why I NEVER vote for those increase highway taxes…it never goes towards the highway. NY was especially bad. One year they raised toll taxes. The next year they increased the cost of a drivers license fee and vehicle registration fee…all increase to be diverted to highway funds. Two years later they proposed a several hundred million dollar bond for highway funds. No one could answer how much was spent on highway reconstruction projects from the several hundred million they raised on toll taxes and increase in fees. [Previous page](https://community.cartalk.com/t/get-rid-of-the-federal-fuel-tax-and-the-highway-trust-fund/101064.md?page=1) [Next page](https://community.cartalk.com/t/get-rid-of-the-federal-fuel-tax-and-the-highway-trust-fund/101064.md?page=3)