Op-Ed: Transportation Funding is Only One Part of a Fair Budget

A guest column on the Saporta Report offers a reminder of the many critical public needs that compete with transportation funding for state dollars.

1 minute read

January 27, 2015, 10:00 AM PST

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


"As much as the business community and many in the general public seem to be in accord that Georgia can’t wait any longer to fix transportation, it’s important to keep in mind that the economic health of the state depends on other important public investments, including quality schools and a viable health care system," according to a guest column by Alan Essig, executive director of the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute.

Essig makes the case for providing new funding for education and health care as necessary components in the overall economic health of the state, and even throws in an argument in favor of raising the state's lower-than-average gas tax. In the end, Essig's argument isn't so much that these three areas of public investment are mutually exclusive of each other, but that the state has new, fair opportunities to embark on a post-recession era of state funding.

Sunday, January 25, 2015 in Saporta Report

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I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

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