“Pollution is not limited to the air we breathe and the water we drink; it can equally offend the eye and ear.” Former Supreme Court Chief Justice, Warren Burger. We of course endure a certain level of pollution ranging from smokestacks to tail pipes. The same may be said of billboards that prove offensive to the eye.
We live with these ubiquitous commercial posters as the cost of living in a competitive world where advertisers hawk their goods and services ranging from personal injury lawyers to dog food. Yet, while we impose reasonable costs and restrictions on powerplants and cars that emit their pollutants, we give the outdoor commercial placards—in effect, hitchhikers along our roads—a free ride.
A freeloader is a person—or in this case a corporate entity—who takes things from others without paying for them or giving anything in return. Indeed, the Billboard “Industry” imposes their commercial icons on our hospitality yet pays next to nothing for the benefit received from our highways that bring consumers’ eyes to them.
Compare television and radio advertisers that pay for the airtime that delivers consumers’ eyes and ears to see and hear their commercials with roadside advertisers that receive gratis, a steady stream of consumers who view these commercial boards as they traverse our roadways.
Billboards free ride runs counter to how we traditionally finance the maintenance of our roads: Those who use or profit from our highways pay in proportion to the benefit received by paying equitable user fees. For cars and trucks, user fees are paid visa vie gasoline taxes.
Our Missouri legislators have long proved an aversion to raising taxes; nonetheless, they recognized the value of user fees to build and maintain our roadways. Two years ago, they increased our gasoline tax assessed per gallon—a rate not raised for over 20 years that could no longer keep pace with the rising costs to maintain our roadways. The rate jumps from 17 cents per gallon with annual two cent per gallon incremental increases until the tax rate reaches 29.5 cents per gallon in 2025 per gallon—a 74% increase.
Meanwhile, the Billboard advertisers that profit from our highways pay a paltry $100 per year for a permit fee to plant 672 square foot poster boards that hawk everything and anything except an uncluttered view of our Missouri farms and Ozark hills. In fact, billboards do not even pay sales taxes on their ads since they sell a ‘service’ rather than a product. Their free ride along Missouri roadways explains their proliferation.
Interstate 70’s corridor between Kansas City and St. Louis bears a staggering 3.64 billboards per mile, or 2.5 times the rate of billboards per mile as compared to the seven states that border Missouri. Many of these commercial placards that litter our roadway are legally non-conforming, but remain ‘grandfathered’, standing ad infinitum—double-stacked and/or closer than 1400 fee apart. Perhaps we would see fewer mammoths mounted on mono metal poles if this visual clutter paid their fair share for the highway that delivers consumer traffic to them.
If life imitates art, then legislation imitates money. Advertising Association’s lobbyists have derailed attempts to impose equitable user fees by spending more money on lobbying than on the poster board glue and the electricity that illuminates their beacons of blight. This result doubly punishes drivers who must endure the visual pollution of billboards while footing the bill that brings consumers within view of the commercial stream of consciousness from which billboards profit.
The Billboard Association once distributed a glossy, self-promoting brochure entitled Sharing the Great Outdoors with America proving that the easiest thing to share is something that belongs to everyone. It is time that the freeloading Billboard ‘Industry’ contribute to the costs of our highway maintenance. A reasonable user tax on billboards will provide MoDOT and construction contractors with much-needed funds to provide the public with better and safer roads.
KC Star, 2.23.24
4 replies on “End Free Rides for Billboards”
Very illuminating. Well written piece.
Well-researched and articulated, as always. I’m convinced that the time has come to raise annual billboard fees. In 2022 alone, billboard sales surpassed a staggering $30 billion, underlining their enduring significance in the cluttered advertising landscape.
The meteoric rise of digital marketing has revolutionized the industry, offering unparalleled quantifiability and precision in targeting audiences. Global expenditure on digital advertising surged past the $600 billion mark in 2022, underscoring the seismic shift towards digital platforms.
In today’s landscape, drivers face an array of distractions, ranging from smartphones to increasingly sophisticated in-car technologies. Simply looking down. Despite these challenges, the power of compelling billboard messaging persists, captivating even the most distracted of idiots including me.
I don’t know the numbers, but I know I don’t like them. I have long advocated Missouri needs to increase funding for our roads and bridges. Seems to me that raising the permit fee would serve the dual purpose of providing added funds for those needed improvements, and might reduce the number of billboards that clutter our roadways.
Not sure how many times I have actually stopped because of a billboard, not even to see the “worlds biggest prairie dog” when driving across Kansas. I do remember as a kid, counting Meramec Cavern, Onodaga Cave and Jesse James Hideout billboards as a driving game, when on some family outings.
Heading home from Colorado soon. Now I am sure I will not only curse the poor condition of the highway when I enter MO, but will be doubly irritated as I notice the ridiculous number of billboards.
The Jessie James/Meramec Caverns billboards were at least colorful, smaller and built close to the ground as opposed to the gargantuan monsters standing high on monopoles.