Do Your Best Carl Sagan and Say "Texas Cheated Out of Billions and Billions For Roads"

Where does all the gas tax money go? Oh sure, over the years cars and trucks fuel mileage figures have improved somewhat. The big 18 wheelers have improved from the 60's and 70's when they achieved 4 or 5 miles per gallon to 7 to 10 depending on a myriad of factors. But overall, we hear every year that the number of barrels of oil the U. S. uses just keeps growing and growing. The overall amount of fuel tax collected keeps growing, and just think of all of the related taxes you pay just involved in car ownership. You pretty much don't even need to do a "Google" search to know we've got more cars and trucks paying more taxes than ever before. So now we must ask, "Where does all the other transportation related tax money go?
Then you can ask, if Texas puts in a dollar of gas tax to the Feds and only receives back .80 for the previous 40 years until 2002. Where did all those .20s go? By the way those .20s have added up to "billions and billions" of lost road money for Texas. Texas road dollars have gone to states like NY and PA where guess what? Toll roads! Toll bridges! And (gasp) rail! Picture me looking like Redd Foxx as Fred G. Sanford on "Sanford and Son" saying "This is the big one! You hear that, Elizabeth? I'm coming to join ya, honey!"
Anyway, here's a pair of great articles by Ron D. Utt, Ph.D illustrating the shortchanging of Texas as well as other states and shining the light on the beneficiaries.
http://www.heritage.org/Research/SmartGrowth/wm645.cfm
http://www.heritage.org/Research/SmartGrowth/em938.cfm