Voters not afraid to raise taxes for transportation funding
Voters in 17 states approved ballot measures that called for higher taxes to fund state and local transportation projects, according to the Washington-based American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA). The approved measures would generate a total of $71 billion in new revenue for transportation infrastructure work.
Of the 37 ballot initiatives ARTBA tracked for its report, 32 asked voters to initiate, extend or increase taxes. Twenty-five of the measures were approved with average of 63 percent of the vote. ARTBA says the 2008 vote continued a trend observed over the past two elections of voters approving tax increases to fund transportation needs. In 2006, 77 percent of the 27 initiatives asking for tax increases were approved, raising more than $40 billion for transportation projects that year. In 2004, 55 initiatives were approved that raised $28 billion.
The ARTBA report is available at
www.artba.org/ballot.
