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AAA poll: Major resistance to tax hike for transportation projects

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* From AAA…

Over 60 percent of Illinoisans believe current transportation funding IS NOT adequate to maintain roadways in their current condition, according to a recent AAA Consumer Pulse™ study. Nearly three quarters of Illinois residents rate the quality of roads and bridges in the state as Fair (47 percent) or Poor (26 percent). Although the majority of Illinoisans don’t think funding is adequate, when asked how to increase funding dollars for transportation, no clear consensus emerged.

The poll itself “Utilized a proprietary online research panel,” which makes me a bit skeptical. It was conducted January 28, 2019 through February 8, 2019 of 403 Illinois respondents.

* More responses…

Do you think existing transportation funding is being used appropriately in Illinois?

Do you believe current transportation funding is adequate or not to maintain roadways in their current condition?

Would you be willing to pay more in taxes or fees to improve the transportation system in Illinois?

In an effort to increase transportation funding, which of the following options would you support? (Select all that apply)

Do you favor or oppose adding toll lanes to existing interstates in Illinois based on traffic congestion?

To help fund roads and bridges, would you support changing Illinois’ tax system from a flat tax (where everybody pays the same amount) to a graduated tax where higher earners pay more?

If you had to choose between the three options below to increase transportation funding, which would you most prefer?

In order to adequately fund transportation, how much more per gallon, if any, would you be willing to pay in gasoline taxes?

Would you be willing to pay more in taxes or fees to support funding for public transportation, such as buses, rail, bike lanes, etc.?

We’ll get to the last question later, but if this poll is accurate it’s abundantly clear that while Illinoisans know the need is there, they are in no mood for a higher gas tax (or really for any higher tax) to pay for it. And they may be so resistant because they don’t believe the government spends the money well now.

Gov. Pritzker has never signed on to a gas tax increase, and now we may know why.

Also, the fact that 39 percent think this can be solved with gaming money alone is interesting. That’s not a very reliable funding source, but whatevs.

* So, that’s why an advertising campaign paid for by a group associated with Local 150 of the Operating Engineers has its work cut out for it. 150 is backing a bill to double the Motor Fuel Tax and increase fees. It’s a good ad, but it’s a hugely difficult task…

* Script…

If Illinois continues to underfund our roads, more bridges will fail, more cars will crash and more people will die.

After years of neglect, Illinois infrastructure is failing at an alarming rate.

Call your legislator. Tell them to invest in our safety. Lives are at stake.

* The buy is not exactly heavy, either…

Citizens to Fund Safe Transportation placed 3/26-3/31
Chicago, Champaign, Peoria, Rockford, Davenport, and Paducah broadcast; Champaign cable

Total Buy: $297,620

Very light cable in Champaign/SPI

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Mar 26, 19 @ 12:33 pm

Comments

  1. “I want everything, but I don’t want to pay for it.”

    Comment by TheInvisibleMan Tuesday, Mar 26, 19 @ 12:45 pm

  2. I’m kind of surprises that tolls are opposed by that many. This should be in the other post about it just being a bill but Larry Walsh’s resolution to put tolls in I-80 is needed badly. I take it all the time and just got off it. There are so many more trucks on there now that it needs to be widened. And obviously trucks cause a lot more damage to the road itself. Putting in a toll would allow constant upkeep instead of waiting for the problem to get bad.

    Comment by Been There Tuesday, Mar 26, 19 @ 12:45 pm

  3. So people want gambling to pay for these roads? How about this, when you go to the toll booth you pay $5 but you get a lottery ticket included with your use of the tollway.

    Comment by Da Big Bad Wolf Tuesday, Mar 26, 19 @ 12:50 pm

  4. Of the 10 states asked “In an effort to increase transportation funding, which of the following options would you support?”, why was IL the only state where gambling expansion was a choice?

    Comment by City Zen Tuesday, Mar 26, 19 @ 12:51 pm

  5. Having driven through other states in the Midwest, Illinois roads are not that bad. And the real culprits behind road and bridge degradation (besides the weather which is unavoidable) are heavy trucks. Rhode Island has truck-only tolls which would be a good idea for Illinois to consider implementing. Put them along I-80, I-57, and I-55.

    Comment by Chicagonk Tuesday, Mar 26, 19 @ 1:11 pm

  6. I think it is a matter of fairness. Should someone that never uses I-80 be asked to pay higher taxes and fees to fix I-80, while their local roads continue to crumble. I do use I-80 occasionally and would be happy to pay a toll for that use instead of seeing a doubling of taxes and fees.

    Comment by A Jack Tuesday, Mar 26, 19 @ 1:15 pm

  7. “39 percent think this can be solved with gaming money alone”

    Could someone please explain to my how Rich got the “alone” out of a question with “(Select all that apply)”? I am sure I am misreading something here, but I can’t figure out what.

    Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Mar 26, 19 @ 1:17 pm

  8. It looks like IDOT has to work on convincing the public that they expend funds wisely. Also the public transportation agencies.

    Comment by NoGifts Tuesday, Mar 26, 19 @ 1:19 pm

  9. However, my own town passed a referendum to raise property taxes to cover bonds for fixing streets. It’s not impossible. People voted for the tax for streets, not for a new library. I think people understand the need.

    Comment by NoGifts Tuesday, Mar 26, 19 @ 1:21 pm

  10. It would be interesting to see how the majority sees the existing transportation funding to be “misused”.
    Waste, fraud and abuse?
    Too much support for transit or other non road uses?
    Not enough support for transit?
    Paying union wages instead of minimum wage?

    Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Tuesday, Mar 26, 19 @ 1:23 pm

  11. A Jack,

    I don’t take I-80 much these days either, but we all benefit from I-80 and other roads we don’t use. They literally make the commerce of the state and nation possible, upon which you and I and all of us are dependent for our very lives.

    And by the way, the more money you make, the more you owe to that commerce and therefore the more you owe to that road!

    How far we have fallen from a due republican sense of common purpose! Yikes! As goes Britain, so goes the United States.. . .both alike choking in our own selfishness choking ourselves for fear someone else might get a chance to breath.

    Comment by histprof Tuesday, Mar 26, 19 @ 1:24 pm

  12. “Paying union wages instead of minimum wage?”

    What is so wrong with union wages? If you think that being a flagger is so easy, I dare you to try it for a day. Of all the jobs on a highway construction project, being a flagger is by far the toughest.

    Comment by Huh? Tuesday, Mar 26, 19 @ 1:30 pm

  13. With the amount of fluctuation in gas prices, I doubt most people (including myself) would even notice a 10-15 cent increase in the gas tax. We need to look at the sales tax portion and put some of that into the motor fuel fund.

    Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Mar 26, 19 @ 1:38 pm

  14. I hate the idea of adding toll lanes for congestion - can we hang onto a little bit of social equality here?

    Comment by lake county democrat Tuesday, Mar 26, 19 @ 1:45 pm

  15. ==Paying union wages instead of minimum wage?==

    Put aside base wages. Pension costs for an operating engineer highway person in Will County are up 20% since 2015. Makes me wonder how healthy their pension plans are.

    Comment by City Zen Tuesday, Mar 26, 19 @ 1:49 pm

  16. more evidence of the decline of a sense of civic engagement and responsibility.

    Comment by d. p. gumby Tuesday, Mar 26, 19 @ 1:52 pm

  17. Clearly more revenue is needed to fix Illinois’ crumbling infrastructure, but is anyone honesty surprised by this polling? With the way Illinois has been mismanaged for decades by both parties, why should the average citizen have any confidence increased gas tax revenues won’t be diverted from their stated purpose? The current crisis of confidence in state government is the price we pay for the sins of the past.

    Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Mar 26, 19 @ 2:08 pm

  18. We elect governors by popular vote, but responsible governing includes making decisions that are not going to be popular with the voters. If we did infrastructure maintenance funding by popular vote, there would be no infrastructure maintenance. Make the hard decisions in the first year and you have 3 years to win back the love of the voters.

    Comment by James Tuesday, Mar 26, 19 @ 2:11 pm

  19. Agree with James, this is something that will eventually need to be done whether the public likes it or not. These same respondents that would be outraged if a bridge collapsed and killed people, and I’d bet if you did this same poll right after the next time a bridge collapse occurs you’d likely get a different set of results. Whether it be raising the gas tax, creating tollways, higher fees on trucking firms (which are the main cause of the problem) gambling expansion or a combination of all these things, we are not going to be able to put it off forever.

    Comment by Lester Holt’s Mustache Tuesday, Mar 26, 19 @ 2:27 pm

  20. ==These same respondents that would be outraged if a bridge collapsed and killed people==

    As they should be. Those same respondents would probably ask why this particular bridge wasn’t prioritized over all other bridges or why is wasn’t condemned prior to collapse. If we’ve got a bridge on the absolute brink of failure, why is it still in use?

    Comment by City Zen Tuesday, Mar 26, 19 @ 2:34 pm

  21. Would you support 150 freezing their wages for 10 years to help build an infrastructure project. 100%.

    Comment by Blue Dog Dem Tuesday, Mar 26, 19 @ 3:01 pm

  22. Same people who want someone else to pay for infrastructure also support the tax increase on the : percent- sure let’s just have tgexweslthy : percent pay to repair Illinois. Doesn’t matter that the 3 percent haven’t been the ones with their hands out to receive State benefits

    Comment by Sue Tuesday, Mar 26, 19 @ 3:23 pm

  23. Lake co dem - There are ways of adding toll lanes or other forms of premium transportation while addressing social needs. Besides, some employers will offer incentives to keep their lower paid employees happy and productive - one of my buddies who had an insurance business in the loop paid his administrative assistant’s South Shore passes every month as a perk.

    Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Tuesday, Mar 26, 19 @ 3:23 pm

  24. @- Sue - Tuesday, Mar 26, 19 @ 3:23 pm:

    “Same people who want someone else to pay for infrastructure also support the tax increase on the : percent- sure let’s just have tgexweslthy : percent pay to repair Illinois. Doesn’t matter that the 3 percent haven’t been the ones with their hands out to receive State benefits”

    3%: Hey, we gamed the system fair and square, and the rest of you 97% losers are just sour grapes.

    /s

    Comment by Hieronymus Tuesday, Mar 26, 19 @ 3:38 pm

  25. ==Doesn’t matter that the 3 percent haven’t been the ones with their hands out to receive State benefits==

    And that matters why?

    You keep on defending the 3%. That argument will get you real far.

    Comment by Demoralized Tuesday, Mar 26, 19 @ 3:44 pm

  26. I love the fact that some of the 97% think others should do the heavy lifting. Me i wanna do it because of Gods blessings. Not because somebody thinks i am priviledged.

    Comment by Blue Dog Dem Tuesday, Mar 26, 19 @ 4:07 pm

  27. The Secretary of Transportation for Michigan is advocating a 45-cent per gallon increase in the gas tax. Their roads (I-94 and I-196) are in dire need of repair.

    Comment by Bogey Golfer Tuesday, Mar 26, 19 @ 4:51 pm

  28. The ultimate fraud in Illinois has been the continued spending for services that we were not willing to fund through taxation.

    We are learning that borrow and spend is worse than tax and spend. Now we have to play catch-up.

    Comment by Last Bull Moose Tuesday, Mar 26, 19 @ 5:49 pm

  29. This is an example of Americans believing free or cheap transportation to be a birthright handed down from Mount Sinai.

    Comment by VerySmallRocks Tuesday, Mar 26, 19 @ 5:57 pm

  30. Very small. People in Missoura drive on some nice roads at about 30 cents a gallon cheaper. I cant figure it out.

    Comment by Blue Dog Dem Tuesday, Mar 26, 19 @ 6:27 pm

  31. We need to reduce the size of government and expenses before we look to any increases in revenue. Illinois has over 7000 government agencies, most of which are overstaffed and inefficient. Our government and education system is infested by organized labor. No worker, including our elected officials, should be receiving tax payer funded pensions. We need a constitutional amendment to put them all into the Social Security.

    Comment by UseCommonSense Tuesday, Mar 26, 19 @ 6:35 pm

  32. == We need a constitutional amendment to put them all into the Social Security. ==

    You can do that for new hires today without an amendment.

    Even with an amendment, you can’t do anything to existing employees; the courts have been clear on that.

    Comment by RNUG Tuesday, Mar 26, 19 @ 7:08 pm

  33. @histprof. And my argument is that those that use I-80 and other major highways pay for that use through tolls instead of having people who don’t use those highways very often.

    The main purpose of I-80 is for the transport of goods between the east and west coasts. Some goods may come and go from Illinois, but I suspect most goods just pass right through.

    I80/90 is toll though most of Indiana and Ohio. Yet, we give a free ride for those goods through most of Illinois. Meanwhile the road is crumbling and we want to raise taxes and fees on the entire state.

    With I-Pass, it would be much easier to turn highways into tollways. And with more cars becoming electric or hybrid, the fuel tax becomes more regressive.

    Comment by A Jack Tuesday, Mar 26, 19 @ 7:25 pm

  34. - Blue Dog Dem - Tuesday, Mar 26, 19 @ 6:27 pm:

    Very small. People in Missoura drive on some nice roads at about 30 cents a gallon cheaper. I cant figure it out.

    That is a good question. It has been raised many times by others. And yet that question seems to be totally ignored. No real response from DOT, legislators or anyone other related authority.

    Comment by Nonbeleiver Tuesday, Mar 26, 19 @ 8:13 pm

  35. ==Illinois has over 7000 government agencies, most of which are overstaffed and inefficient.==

    No one has ever proved that 7000 agencies are over staffed and inefficient.

    If you can provide proof I’m in. Just saying it is using oxygen.

    Comment by Da Big Bad Wolf Wednesday, Mar 27, 19 @ 6:40 am

  36. ==I can’t figure it out.==

    I got a clue. Missouri taxes everyone who makes over $9000 a year 5.9%. Perhaps they spend the 1% more money on roads.

    Comment by Da Big Bad Wolf Wednesday, Mar 27, 19 @ 8:01 am

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