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The recent federal tax rebate for economic stimulus cost $168 billion - but we’ve already lost the money to higher gas prices according to a recent analysis of American household spending by Illinois PIRG called “Squandering The Stimulus” (pdf). The same study says that the average annual federal spending for new public transportation over four years ending in 2009 is $1.65 billion. Yes, you read that right, each year the federal government spends less than 1% of what it just spent in a rebate to taxpayers to build new public transit, which would reduce household transit costs, reduce American oil use and help spur the economy long-term by keeping more money in our pockets through cheaper transit, reduced traffic congestion and more jobs building and maintaining the public transit infrastructure. Well, you might think, the money could have been better spent, but at least it went to taxpayers.

Not really.

The study shows that the tax refund stimulus effectively went to oil companies - among the few companies that don’t need a “stimulus” right now. A joint-filing couple with one child or a single parent with three children got $1,500 refunded to them - money that they will pay for in whole or in part next time they file taxes (the money is an advanced credit on next year’s tax bill). But whatever you may think of tapping future tax credits/refunds for current spending, something that sometimes may be necessary, it gets much worse. This past week marks the point where the average household had already spent more than $1,500 on gas since February 13, 2008, the date President Bush signed the law providing the tax refund. In February, when the President signed the tax rebate into law, average households spent about $60 a week in gas. Now average households spend about $90 a week on gas because of price increases. When you look at the average gas price of under $1.15 a gallon December 2001, when Bush started serving as President, and compare it to an average price of over $4 a gallon now you realize, Americans spent their rebate checks long before we got them.

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With public mass transit still inaccessible or inconvenient for many and with the majority of commuters saying that they would use mass transit if it were easily accessible, just how much can we save with mass transit? The answer with American’s current public transit is likely in the tens of billions this year - but let’s bring it down to an individual level. Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT) President Scott Bernstein says,

“Here in metropolitan Chicago, residents of transit rich communities like Evanston are able to keep their annual gas costs below $1,490 per year, while residents in communities with less access to transit, for example Hoffman Estates, are spending more than $4,500 per year, almost three times as much.”

In Hoffman Estates people getting the maximum tax refund stimulus payment, and having it offset their gas costs, are still spending more than twice what they’re spending in Evanston for gas. That’s impressive. Impressively bad.

CNT and its partners have also created an interactive map of 52 U.S. metropolitan areas that lets you compare the effect of gas prices in 2000 with 2008. You can think of it as a map of where our money went.

The United States will invest more money, a lot more money, on public mass transit in the coming years. With energy costs rising, an economy suffering from traffic congestion costs and an aging population unable or unwilling to drive, we will have to spend more tax dollars on public transit. The real question is whether we will do it sooner or later, and smarter or dumber. In part it’s a question of costs - and we’re already paying for our delayed and limited public transit. We need to start getting the most we can from our transportation dollar - and we can no longer get a good deal at the pump. Buses and trains, along with biking and walking, are the ticket to real savings. The sooner we make a serious investment in public mass transit, the better our return.