How Does RI Taxpayer Money Disappear?
The middle of three questions that Rick Jackson poses in a Providence Journal letter to the editor relates to a puzzle that all but jumps off the page of the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity’s report card for RI:
How is it that we need to raise the toll on the Newport Bridge when only four states spend more on highways per mile? And, of course, with all that money spent, we have a larger percentage of structurally deficient bridges than anyone in the United States.
Rhode Islanders might just as well broaden the question to this: How is it possible to get Ds and Fs in everything from infrastructure to education while still getting a D- in spending & debt? Other New England states fare almost as poorly as Rhode Island when it comes to taxation, but residents seem more often to get some value for their money.