No great surprises in the new Gov’t Accountability Office report on: PHYSICAL INFRASTRUCTURE Challenges and Investment Options for the Nation’s Infrastructure. (Summary, full report). Roads, bridges, dams, railroads, airports etc are decaying and not keeping up with “demand,” and existing funding methods are proving inadequate. Is there a cheaper way to meet the needs? The report does not say. Is it worth spending what it costs to update the facilities? Not discussed. And perhaps most importantly, is there a way that the owners of land benefiting from infrastructure improvements could be made to pay for them? Well, one sentence recognizes some approximation of the possibility:
A variety of taxes have been and could be used to fund the nation’s infrastructure, including excise, sales, property, and income taxes. (p. 15)
That’s all.
I really appreciate free, succinct, reiballe data like this.