No matter where you drive in most of Mississippi in the next few weeks, you will encounter new and challenging potholes thanks to the Great Ice Strom of 2021.
Last
week’s severe winter weather will make a lasting impact on
Mississippi’s already compromised infrastructure system – particularly
on roads and bridges
– and will exacerbate the need for more comprehensive means to repair
and restore the state’s overall infrastructure system.
Mississippi
isn’t alone in the struggle to improve infrastructure. Congress faces
some difficult decisions not just on roads and bridges but on the future
of the nation’s pipelines, airports, urban and rural water systems.
Another extremely vital part of America’s necessary infrastructure truly
hasn’t yet been fully built the first time in our state – broadband
access - but the need for it has been brought home
to everyone in the nation during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Funding
for rebuilding and restoring the state’s infrastructure has been
evolving. In 2018 during a special legislative session, state lawmakers
passed the
Mississippi Infrastructure Modernization Act that will direct an
estimated $120 million in internet use tax diversions to county and city
infrastructure needs.
Also,
2018 saw the adoption of a state lottery that for the first ten years
will send at least $80 million to shore up state roads and bridges. That
same special
session saw portions of the state’s BP oil spill settlement directed
toward infrastructure needs.
But
what hasn’t happened – despite a great deal of debate involving the
state’s business community – is any legislative movement on
increases
in both federal and state fuel taxes to fund future highway
construction and maintenance at a time when both national and state
infrastructure stands in inarguable
need to repair and improvement.
Mississippi’s
18.4 cents per gallon state gas tax (CPG) is a flat tax. When we paid
$3.965 a gallon for gas in 2008, the tax was 18.4 CPG. When we pay $2.35
per gallon at the pump this week, the state tax is still 18.4 CPG. The
only way the state takes in more revenue in gas taxes is for the volume
of gas consumed to increase – and automobiles are now manufactured to
require less fuel consumption that a decade
ago.
The
state fuel tax rates haven’t increased since 1987, the last time the
state was particularly serious about improving our highway system.
The
federal fuel tax is likewise 18.4 cents per gallon and haven’t changed
since 1993. Neither the federal nor state fuel taxes have kept pace with
inflation.
Indexed for inflation, both federal and state fuel tax rates would be
31 cents per gallon and far closer to actually funding what’s needed to
build and adequately maintain the national and state infrastructures.
The
state hasn’t raised gas taxes, but the current legislative session has
seen debate on a statewide gas tax referendum bill and on local or
municipal option
sales taxes. Those bills are considered long shots unless tied to state
income tax elimination legislation or phased reduction.
At
the federal level, with Democrats in control of Congress and the White
House, there is already less than veiled signals coming from the Biden
administration
that an attempt will be made to raise the federal gas tax. Congress has
already had to make recent infusions in the $141 billion range to prop
up the struggling federal Highway Trust Fund.
The
irony is that with recent gains in Mississippi in road and bridge funds
and at least serious discussion of raising the state’s gas tax, rising
energy prices
and federal spending on the latest COVID-19 stimulus bill may tamp down
that momentum along with reduced consumption at higher prices.
The
only way the state takes in more revenue in gas taxes is for the volume
of gas consumed to increase — and automobiles are now manufactured to
require
less fuel consumption that a decade ago.
The
bottom line is that every rural blacktop road, city streets, state
highways, and bridges across Mississippi - along with airport runways,
municipal and
rural water systems, and other infrastructure features – took a beating
during the ice storm. Multiple days of heavy ice and low temperatures
have made an aging and deteriorating infrastructure even worse at every
level of government in the state.
A little hot mix here and a little cold mix there won’t fix the damage done across our state.
Sid Salter is a syndicated columnist. Contact him at sidsalter@sidsalter.com.
19 comments:
Whew! I had been up night and day wondering if the ice storm would affect road conditions after the thaw.
Looking forward to next weeks article, “staring at sun can have big implications on eyesight”
Thank you Captain Obvious Sid Salter. If you are going to write this piece of trash, at least offer some solutions. Why does this man's weak finger wagging get run in this state?
Bated - I believe there was a little more to the article than what is reflected in your sarcastic comment. You just can't carry on an intelligent conversation with some people.
lol@Kingfish
Whatever you are paying Captain Obvious for his “articles” you are paying too much.
I hope you are able to write it off on your taxes as a charitable contribution!
If, you need the OBVIOUS pointed out...Ole Sid izzz your boy
What he really wants to do is raise yor gas tax
I recommend paying Robert St. John double and Sid what he is worth (0).
I think over the years Sid has been clear. He supports raising taxes. Many of them, not just the gas tax. He also supports budget deficit borrow-and-spend economics on the national level. He also supports illegal immigration. Sid is consistent.
8:24 WINS !!!! LMAO
Everyone knows our roads and bridges are crumbling and we don’t have enough money to fix the decades of neglect. There is an easy solution for most, move somewhere else. Every young person with an education has taken that route and they should be commended for seeing the obvious and making a tough decision for their long term opportunity.
8:48 here and I agree with 11:53 that 8:24 deserves the “best comment of the thread” award.
@12:17
We do have the money but it is being wasted on Welfare Queens and the Military Industrial Complex. Both account for over half the national budget/debt
"No matter where you drive in most of Mississippi in the next few weeks, you will encounter new and challenging potholes thanks to the Great Ice Strom of 2021."
Hey Sid, what the hell is a "Strom"? Can't be bothered to even proofread your first sentence of your article? What a slacker!
@4:12
It is homage to Strom Thurmond.
Can this guy ever write about a topic that is not obvious to everyone ?
I'd rather hear about his college experiences at the State College in Starkville.
But I'm willing to bet, Sid was a tame little boy back then . . . and has no college adventures to write about.
Sid ignores the other options to fixing the infrastructure needs - both at the federal, state, and particularly the local level.
Those Mayors and Supervisors could quit spending the tax dollars they collect funding all their favored local groups - charities, ads in the Supervisors Magazine, neighborhood gatherings, rodeos, - or the much more expensive items on their consent agenda that are not a basic function of the government.
If the roads are in such bad shape, put them at the top of the list rather than depending on the hacks (including not only Salter, but the road builders and the suppliers) to sell the idea that they need more money so ergo taxes must be raised.
Doesn't matter if it is Jackson who would rather spend their money on reopening a zoo that is long past its prime and paying for the soul music award ceremony than fixing water lines or potholes - or if its small town Mississippi that has a limited budget and few roads but still has to support the local cheerleaders and the youth baseball league. Take care of the required basics. If you have money left over and don't agree with the idea that it should be returned to the taxpayers but spent, then buy the nice trinkets that government is not responsible for.
Instead, we have the ever present - we must raise taxes, because we must raise taxes, they are too low - argument.
Whatta you call those people who love to be abused, even beaten? Sidney is the poster boy.
And this: "You just can't carry on an intelligent conversation with some people. February 24, 2021 at 8:30 AM"
Maybe YOU can't, but the rest of us have no trouble.
Sid Salter never saw a tax he didn't like or a tax increase he didn't like.
I remember when Supertalk employed Sid to host an afternoon segment. Talk about a whiny, monotone shoveling minutia. He had the perfect face for radio and that station has proved over and over that it will pay anybody to talk into a microphone for an hour or two.
Meanwhile...He's building up to a climax where he pegs the PERS needle.
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