Tell me if this sounds familiar: "We hard-working, regular people of [insert state name here] already pay for those freeloading people in [insert city name here]."
In particular, I'm referring to the ongoing debate happening in Pennsylvania now about tolling Interstate 80, but I think this sentiment can be found in many places. The common thread, whether in PA, NY, IL or wherever, is the big freeloading city, full of lazy welchers, versus the rest of the state. I think I'm particularly sensitive to it because I grew up in an urban/suburban area but now live in a rural one. (Incidentally, I use I-80 to visit my family back home, so I'm not that happy about the tolls either. But I understand that roads cost money and bridges don't last forever.)
On to specifics about the I-80 toll controversy and who really pays more in states with an urban/rural divide . .
Like most states, Pennsylvania is facing a serious infrastructure problem, recently highlighted by the Minnesota bridge collapse. According to the ASCE 2005 Report Card for America's Infrastructure,
* 46% of Pennsylvania's major roads are in poor or mediocre condition.
* The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has a $2.3 billion maintenance backlog for roads and an $8 billion maintenance backlog for bridges.
* 42 % of Pennsylvania's bridges are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete.
Governor Rendell is at least trying to address the problem, not pass this hot potato on to the next administration. terrypinder summarized the efforts in a comment in a diary by shirah about a month ago, Privatized Highways are for Losers. After months of wrangling, Act 44 was passed by a bipartisan majority in the state legislature. It doesn't raise Pennsylvania's already high gas tax, an unpalatable option for most politicians, but instead raises some of the much-needed revenue through I-80 tolls. In steps my very own representative, John Peterson (PA-05) along with Phil English (PA-03). The boys are outraged, outraged, by the toll proposal. They are trying to stop it, but of course offer no alternative funding plan. Their main rhetoric revolves around the freeloading cities meme:
Peterson said:
While the governor should be working to reduce Pennsylvania’s corporate and gasoline taxes to attract new business and create jobs, he would rather tax rural folks through tolls to subsidize Philadelphia’s failed SEPTA program
English further said:
We are not going to stand idly by and watch Harrisburg politicians pick the pockets of western Pennsylvanians to prop up Philadelphia’s mass transit system. Imposing tolls on I-80 will only burden our local communities, while shifting the benefits elsewhere
So, are they right about the good rural people's money going to the freeloading cities, Philadelphia in particular? Not so much.
In a report called Gas Tax Losers, Environmental Working Group details how federal gas tax revenue was distrubuted among 256 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) from 1996 to 2003. You can see all the numbers at the link above, but I'll only focus on the 14 Pennsylvania MSAs listed. During the time period covered, the Philadelphia MSA got back $.99 in funding for every gas tax dollar sent to Washington. Pittsburgh did better with $1.28 on the dollar. State College MSA - in Peterson's district - was by far the biggest winner, getting back an astounding $6.46 for every dollar. (I think this is due to serious earmarks at that time for the 322 bypass and I-99 construction.) The second biggest winner in PA is the Erie MSA - in English's district - with $1.84 back per tax dollar sent. Lancaster, Reading, and York were the biggest losers, getting $.71, $.87, and $.57 on the dollar respectively.
Peterson and English's rhetoric is not supported by the state funding numbers either.
For example, Allegheny County, with 909,000, has the highest number of registered motor vehicles in the state. That also is 50 percent more than the 601,654 registered vehicles in Mercer, Venango, Clarion, Jefferson, Clearfield, Centre, Clinton and Lycoming counties combined, where I-80 passes through the 2nd and 5th Congressional Districts represented by Mr. English and Mr. Peterson.
The nearly $44 million that PennDOT collected last year from Allegheny County vehicle owners in registration fees for the state's Motor License Fund also was about 50 percent more than the total collected in all of those counties.
On the other hand, I-80 alone eats up 22 percent of all federal interstate maintenance money allocated to the state. That statewide total last year was $211.9 million.
When revenues generated by Allegheny County are combined with the five-county Philadelphia area, where transit is provided by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, the urban areas are generating about 33 percent of all transportation money that is shared with the other 61 counties.
6 out of 67 counties provide 1/3 of all transportation revenue. This pattern holds for other types of revenue (income tax, sales tax, etc.) and for school funding as well.
Of course, bringing up any of these numbers on the local discussion boards quickly elicits calls for me to move to Philadelphia if I love it so much. Then I'm forced to reply, "Because I don't want to pay for your ignorant ass."