...Trump Released a Plan to Privatize America’s Roads and Bridges
So this is kind of cute. While most of us were tearing our hair out over the FBI and Hillary Clinton's emails last weekend, Donald Trump's campaign quietly released a plan to privatize new infrastructure development in the United States. I know, that's not very sexy on the surface. But given that the man might be president come Tuesday, it seems worth remarking upon. Because it could mean we'll all be paying to drive on more roads built for profit.
...In a report from Oct. 27, University of California–Irvine professor Peter Navarro and private equity honcho Wilbur Ross outlined how the candidate would transform about $167 billion of federal tax credits into $1 trillion of infrastructure spending. Factor in the effects of economic growth, they argued, and the cost to taxpayers would amount to zero, zilch, nada. Or, as they put it, the whole thing would be “budget neutral.” Of course, it‘s not really free. Americans would just end up paying for the construction a bit later on.
Under Trump's plan—at least as it's written (more on that in a minute)—the federal government would offer tax credits to private investors interested in funding large infrastructure projects, who would put down some of their own money up front, then borrow the rest on the private bond markets. They would eventually earn their profits on the back end from usage fees, such as highway and bridge tolls (if they built a highway or bridge) or higher water rates (if they fixed up some water mains). So instead of paying for their new roads at tax time, Americans would pay for them during their daily commute. And of course, all these private developers would earn a nice return at the end of the day.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox...to_privatize_america_s_roads_and_bridges.html
So this is kind of cute. While most of us were tearing our hair out over the FBI and Hillary Clinton's emails last weekend, Donald Trump's campaign quietly released a plan to privatize new infrastructure development in the United States. I know, that's not very sexy on the surface. But given that the man might be president come Tuesday, it seems worth remarking upon. Because it could mean we'll all be paying to drive on more roads built for profit.
...In a report from Oct. 27, University of California–Irvine professor Peter Navarro and private equity honcho Wilbur Ross outlined how the candidate would transform about $167 billion of federal tax credits into $1 trillion of infrastructure spending. Factor in the effects of economic growth, they argued, and the cost to taxpayers would amount to zero, zilch, nada. Or, as they put it, the whole thing would be “budget neutral.” Of course, it‘s not really free. Americans would just end up paying for the construction a bit later on.
Under Trump's plan—at least as it's written (more on that in a minute)—the federal government would offer tax credits to private investors interested in funding large infrastructure projects, who would put down some of their own money up front, then borrow the rest on the private bond markets. They would eventually earn their profits on the back end from usage fees, such as highway and bridge tolls (if they built a highway or bridge) or higher water rates (if they fixed up some water mains). So instead of paying for their new roads at tax time, Americans would pay for them during their daily commute. And of course, all these private developers would earn a nice return at the end of the day.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox...to_privatize_america_s_roads_and_bridges.html