Viewpoint

If we don’t pay for roads, we don’t get mobility

Vos is correct: Even if we stop using gas, we need to fund the roads that let Wisconsin grow

By Patrick McIlheran

Robin Vos spoke a hard truth the other day, something unpleasant because it is incontrovertible.

Speaking about the future of funding an important Wisconsin priority, the speaker of the state Assembly said, “The gas tax is declining whether we like it or not.”

So we should think now about how to replace it.

To be sure, gas tax revenue has recovered from the pandemic lockdown era after two years of decline. People are driving again, bringing Wisconsin fuel consumption back to the plateau it’s been on since 2005 — a level the federal government is strenuously seeking to depress by cajoling and compelling people to buy electric cars. A reasonable midrange projection pegs those at 28% of Wisconsin’s vehicles by 2050, though they could make up a much larger share.

This bodes ill for the way Wisconsin funds highways, which has been by the fuel tax. It’s a user fee: Use roads more and you burn more gas, so you pay more tax. Rising fuel efficiency alters this equation. Electric cars nullify it.

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Free Exchange Podcast

Cops in Schools: The Numbers No One Is Talking About

A new report by Badger Institute Managing Editor Mark Lisheron reveals that calls to police from MPS high schools dramatically increased — again. Lisheron joins Badger Institute Vice President Michael Jahr to discuss the troubling numbers — and the encouraging news that the Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson has signaled support for putting police back in schools.

Listen to the podcast

Lower the Income Tax

Nearly three-quarters of Wisconsinites support lowering the state income tax, according to a Wisconsin 2023 Issues Poll recently conducted by the Center for Excellence in Polling.

When respondents were asked if they would support or oppose lowering the state income tax, 73% of respondents said they were strongly or somewhat in favor of cutting the tax, including 78% of Republicans, 72% of Democrats and 68% of Independents.

Badger in the News

Toll roads in Wisconsin: Vos in favor, expert says it’s a better way to fund road repairs and construction — 620WTMJ

Fact Sheets

Transportation Funding Fact Sheet

The Badger Institute has a growing library of one-pagers highlighting facts, data, trends and recommendations on a variety of policy issues.

The motor vehicle fuel tax, long the mainstay for highway funding in Wisconsin, is becoming unsustainable as a revenue source due to increased vehicle mileage and popularity of vehicles that use no fuel.

An alternative is to replace the gas tax with a mileage-based user fee. Previous surveys of tolling as a replacement showed lukewarm sentiment in Wisconsin, but we now have the benefit of other states’ experiments with mileage-based user fees. Those pilot projects generally offered participants options for how they wanted their miles recorded and reported, with steps taken to avoid tracking and to protect driver privacy.

Download the fact sheet

Forward Society

Wisconsin’s state motto is the simple and powerfully positive word FORWARD.

The Badger Institute proudly presents the Forward Society to give you the opportunity to invest in the free-market principles of today while ensuring freedom grows in our state for years to come. The Society distinguishes donors who make a $5,000 (total) minimum pledge which is paid over three years.

Members of the Forward Society inaugural class are welcomed at any point during 2023. For more information on Forward Society membership, including access to the pledge form, click below or contact the Institute’s Executive Vice President, Angela Smith, at 414-254-6440.

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Weekly Survey: Should the projected $7 billion budget surplus be used to increase state government programs?

Previous Poll Results

What We’re Reading

• Goldwater Institute: Virginia Takes Promising Step Toward Full, Expedited Universal Licensing Recognition

• Patrick Gleason: School Choice Advocates Have Continued Success In 2023 After Notching Major Victories In 2022

• Sherlean Roberts: School choice is us for us – let’s expand it (paywall)



• Heritage Foundation: U.S. Slips to Worst-Ever Score in 2023 Index of Economic Freedom

• ReimaginED: Education freedom and student achievement: A happy marriage

Invest in the Badger Institute

The Institute never has, and never will, accept government funding. We gratefully welcome your online donation or email Angela Smith, Executive Vice President.

The Badger Institute is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit organization funded solely by the generosity of foundations, companies and individuals.