Highway spending is a subsidy for driving

Published June 17, 2011 4:00am ET



President Obama says he wants to decrease oil imports and stop oil subsidies, yet at the same time, he’s subsidizing oil consumption — by spurring new highway spending.

When I tell the story of the oil executive who told me that his biggest subsidy is highway spending, people sometimes tell me this is wrong — that gas taxes cover the cost of highways. But they don’t.

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