Infrastructure funding
Aug. 24 The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal
State leaders begin today a valuable effort to learn more about the condition of Mississippi’s transportation system, chiefly its roads and bridges, and to discuss possible solutions.
This topic is not a new one for members of the Mississippi Legislature, state agencies or even business leaders. They all have been grappling with the issue of what to do with our state’s crumbling infrastructure system for nearly five years.
While all parties seem to agree that the condition of our roads and bridges could vastly improve, the question of how that work will be funded is what always brings these conversations, unfortunately, to a screeching halt.
The legislative leadership, led by Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves and Speaker Philip Gunn, have rejected calls in the past to raise the state’s 18.4-cent per gallon gas tax, one of the lowest in the nation, to provide additional funds for transportation needs, as reported by the Daily Journal’s Bobby Harrison.
Gunn has proposed using a portion of the 7-percent tax voluntarily collected by online retailers on the items they sell to provide funds for infrastructure needs. That source of revenue, though, would generate limited funds, far less than the $400 million annually a Mississippi Economic Council study said is needed to make the necessary repairs to the state’s roads and bridges.
Only five states have lower gasoline taxes than Mississippi’s 18.4-cent per gallon levy. Mississippi’s tax is lower than that of the four contiguous states. Mississippi Department of Transportation officials say the tax is generating essentially the same amount of money it did when it was enacted in 1987.
Yet the amount of travel has doubled on state-maintained roadways and the cost of construction has tripled. …
The condition of Mississippi’s roads and bridges impacts all residents. Whether you’re a business owner relying on goods to be transported through our highways or you’re a parent who puts their child on a bus every morning, the reality is that this problem can’t be pushed down the road any longer. A creative solution to funding these improvements is out there, and we urge state leaders to find it quickly.