Liberal Myth
Federal highway spending creates jobs.
The Facts
While some jobs are created to build highways, far fewer are created than the millions promised by big-spending liberals.
- The debate should be on whether a highway is necessary, not whether its construction will create jobs
- A series of studies by the Congressional Budget Office and others were at best inconclusive about whether highway spending created jobs
- The federal highways are for transportation and mobility, not jobs, and any focus on jobs distorts the purpose of the spending
Possible negative effects
- A recent study suggested that increased highway spending could actually cause unemployment by diverting money from more productive uses
- Any new taxes used to pay for highway spending would undo any positive effects from highway spending
- A proposed five-cent gasoline tax would cost Americans $125 billion over the next six years
A necessary federal program?
- The federal government built the interstate highway system starting in 1956 for transportation and national defense purposes
- The system was completed in the early 1980s, and much of the spending since then has been politicians funding local projects of little or no national importance
Related Heritage research
- Ronald D. Utt, The Katrina Relief Effort: Congress Should Redirect Highway Earmark Funding to a Higher Purpose, September 2, 2005
- Mandate for Leadership 2005: Strengthening Federalism
