Back to the Future
Jun 30th, 2005 at 1:59 pm by Susie
You know how libertarians are always saying the government shouldn’t be involved in anything other than the military?
Looks like they’re getting their wish:
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The next road you travel — and pay a toll to use — could be privately owned.
Looking for ways to finance highway projects without hitting the public trough, the U.S. Congress appears set to pass a proposal to encourage private ownership of new toll roads.
The provision, part of the highway spending bill now being hammered out by a Senate and House conference committee, would allow private companies to raise up to $15 billion for highway projects with bonds that are exempt from federal income taxes.
While the proposal has broad support in Washington and the business community, the idea of private highways has incited grassroots opposition in some states, with some saying the government — not a profit-seeking company — is the proper owner of the public’s roads.
Toll road owners such as Spain’s Cintra and Australia’s Macquarie Infrastructure Group stand to benefit from the move to private infrastructure bonds, since their tax-exempt status would keep interest rates and funding costs low.
The move would also bring lucrative fees to Wall Street banks and others for underwriting and trading tax-exempt debt.
“The time has come for this,” Sen. Jim Talent, a Missouri Republican who co-sponsored the proposal, said in a telephone interview. “I think we have an excellent chance of the $15 billion bond issue coming out of conference.”
Gee. Next thing you know, we’ll have private police forces. Oh, I forgot. Never mind.
Yes, and every time one of those toll roads starts losing money, it’ll be sold back to us at an obscene profit. Old story that we keep falling for.
Welcome to the fucking Third World.
I think (you live close and can check it out better than I) that the Atlantic City Expressway was originally a private road.
I’ve been following a bunch of threads on Free Republic on the proposed Trans Texas Corridor. The Freepers are no happier than we about handing over highway ownership (with it’s associated rights of Eminent Domain) to a Spanish company.