Keep the Money for Mobility
In an opinion editorial appearing in the Thursday, January 5th, 2006 Raleigh News & Observer, 2005-2006 RTA Chairman Joe Freddoso of Cisco Systems argued that North Carolina should retain all of the revenue generated by the gas tax and invest it in multimodal transportation for our state's future mobility and economic health. Since 1989, more than $3 billion of state gas taxes and fees have been diverted to non-transportation purposes.
Noting that Missouri recently passed a constitutional amendment ending these diversions, Freddoso says that "A proposal by the legislature and the governor to preserve transportation tax revenue solely for highway and transportation investments would provide needed assurances for potential creators of new jobs in North Carolina, and such a call would receive the full support of the Regional Transportation Alliance."
The Charlotte Observer's traffic columnist, Diane Whitacre, makes a similar point in an article that same week, stating that "We can't afford these diversions from a highway system that will have a $30 billion shortfall over the next 25 years."
The transfer issue remains one of our key concerns and we will continue to push for transparency in transportation funding.
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