Who Should Pay for Highways?

Economy | January 14, 2012

By David Stokes | Read Time 1 minute

The Missouri Department of Transportation, MODOT, is looking into ways of funding necessary maintenance on the main east-to-west highway across Missouri — Interstate 70. One funding option is to raise the gas tax state-wide. An alternative proposal from MODOT is to institute a toll on the highway. In this video, Show-Me Institute Policy Analyst David Stokes suggests the the latter option makes more sense economically, as the people using the highway will be the ones paying for it. This video is a companion to Stokes’ recent op-ed, which can be found here.

About the Author

David Stokes

David Stokes is a St. Louis native and a graduate of Saint Louis University High School and Fairfield (Conn.) University. He spent six years as a political aide at the St. Louis County Council before joining the Show-Me Institute in 2007. Stokes was a policy analyst at the Show-Me Institute from 2007 to 2016. From 2016 through 2020 he was Executive Director of Great Rivers Habitat Alliance, where he led efforts to oppose harmful floodplain developments done with abusive tax subsidies. Stokes rejoined the Institute in early 2021 as the Director of Municipal Policy. He is a past president of the University City Library Board. He served on the St. Louis County 2010 Council Redistricting Commission and was the 2012 representative to the Electoral College from Missouri’s First Congressional District. He lives in University City with his wife and their three children.

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