Not the people who live here. As of 2021, building a rural two-lane highway like this one in eastern Washington probably costs about 1½ to 2 million dollars per mile (source here). The locals can’t possibly pay enough taxes to cover that cost. The gas taxes that built it were paid by Seattle commuters. Urban dwellers also subsidize rural schools, libraries, mail delivery, phone service, electricity, and other services. If you confront rural dwellers with that fact, they’ll say “yeah, but we grow your food, and you’d starve without us.” Seems like a fair trade, but I wish they’d stop falsely claiming their gas taxes subsidize Seattle drivers.
