Remember those math word problems that made most of us groan and turn green and claim the dog ate our homework?
Here's a real-life example -- the underfunded Federal Highway Trust Fund that expires in May without congressional action.
Do the math:
Last year, Dick and Jane spent $550 more on gasoline than they will spend this year, thanks to falling oil prices. On average, they will save nearly $30 for every 20 gallons of gas they buy.
But their travels may be bumpy or even hazardous, since the roads are crumbling. The Federal Highway Trust Fund, powered by a federal tax on gasoline, is going broke. If the current 18.4-cent federal tax on gasoline had simply kept up with inflation, it would be 30 cents added to cost of every gallon of gas sold today.
The Congressional Budget Office says raising fuel taxes by 15 cents a gallon will meet all of the obligations of the Highway Trust Fund. Experts say the increased tax will add $3 to the cost of a 20-gallon fill-up.
Question: If the tax is raised, how much savings will Dick and Jane still see? How much savings will they still see over a year -- even while helping pay for better roads, bridges and mass transit?
We'll spare you going to the back of the book for the answers. Dick and Jane would still save on average $27 a fill-up and about $495 over the year.
Unfortunately, our lawmakers -- both national and state -- have such a hard time spelling T A X that they can't figure out this word problem even if they're good at math.
Historically, the Federal Highway Trust Fund has provided on average about half of what states use to keep the highways and bridges in shape. Now, with that fund running out of both money and congressional backbone, states are looking for their own ways to pay for road repairs and bridge maintenance.
Already a fourth of states have increased transportation taxes or fees during the past two years, and a third of states have similar moves on their agendas this year. Meanwhile, the only action in Congress is inaction In Tennessee alone, 32 projects totaling $393 million have been delayed.
The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials estimates that annual road and bridge spending by all levels of government is falling $32 billion short of what is needed. Gasoline tax revenue has plateaued since 2007 as vehicles became more fuel-efficient and people cut back on driving.
Roads, highways and bridges form the framework of American everyday life. They link us from home to work, they carry the trucks that carry food and goods to the stores we patronize. All too often, we don't think much about our roads until they are too small or pot-holed or unsafe for reasonable travel.
Today 20 percent of the nation's 900,000 miles of interstates and major roads are in need of resurfacing or reconstruction, and a quarter of our 600,000 bridges are rated as structurally deficient or functionally obsolete, according to federal data analyzed by the American Road & Transportation Builders Association.
In Georgia, state officials are considering a higher gas tax to raise $1 billion that would not only tax gas guzzlers but also require an annual fee for electric vehicles to fix roads and -- looking forward -- also create the mass transit options of the future. Detractors say it would bump what is now a total of about 16 cents in tax per gallon to more than 29 cents per gallon. Georgia also would charge 33 cents per gallon for diesel fuel.
In Tennessee, Gov. Bill Haslam has said 2015 is not the year to tackle transportation funding -- despite a $2 billion backlog of road, bridge and other transportation needs. Tennessee's 21.4-cents-per-gallon gas tax hasn't been raised since 1989, and our 17.4-cents-per-gallon diesel tax was last raised in 1990.
At the congressional level, our own U.S. Sen. Bob Corker has offered a plan to increase the federal gas tax to replenish the Federal Highway Trust Fund, but he has found almost no support in the majority-Republican Congress -- including among his Tennessee colleagues.
Sen. Lamar Alexander says he won't support a funding increase until he sees a long-term federal transportation plan from the White House and congressional transportation committees. (By the way, states largely administer road funds, and since when (after Democrats took the White House) have Republicans wanted or supported any plans that the federal government might have for states? Can we say Obamaroads?
As for our 3rd District U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann? He's all about kicking the can down the road longer than the usual six or eight months of the last few years. He'd prefer something more like a way-in-the-future five-year transportation bill. And since he's a "no-new-taxes" pledger, he also prefers something like adding a fee to new exploration oil and gas wells drilled in the U.S., or a one-time infusion of revenue from repatriating offshore profits. (Don't tell him this is part of Obama's plan to close corporate loopholes!)
Albert R. Hunt with Bloomberg View said it succinctly recently in The New York Times: "If Washington were a rational place, a major measure to rebuild roads, bridges, ports and airports would be a slam dunk."
Woe be to us. Neither Washington nor most state capitols are rational places.