Steve Bantly: Gas tax necessary to repair our roads
I understand the frustration with tax increases, but it's not just about increased taxes, it's about fixing our roads. This is the first gas-tax increase in 23 years. During that time, the costs of materials like asphalt and cement have risen with inflation, while gas-tax revenues have declined somewhat due to more fuel efficient cars. The net result has been that our current gas taxes give taxpayers, who are also road users, less bang for their road repair buck, causing the gradual decline of California roads. This is quite noticeable here, many of our streets resemble cobblestone roads of 14th century Europe and it is why Mercedians overwhelmingly approved a half-cent sales tax increase last year for local road repair.
Critics complain that these taxes may put a burden on lower income working people, but no more so than the annual inflation rate that, over time, have driven up prices for goods and services while wages remain stagnant. Due in part to fewer living wage jobs currently offered to middle-class America and wealth-concentrating tax cuts for corporations and rich investors, flat wages are the true culprits, not increased taxes for infrastructure repair.
If you want decent roads, you have to pay for them.
Steve Bantly, Merced
This story was originally published May 9, 2017 at 12:30 PM with the headline "Steve Bantly: Gas tax necessary to repair our roads."