Posted on 08/08/2007 5:11:03 AM PDT by jmyrlefuller
That’s the deal. When MN proposed a .5 increase in the Gas Tax, the Republican Governor vetoed it because the state had a $2.1 Billion Surplus.
Add this to the $18 billion of taxes on the oil companies that will simply be passed on to consumers and $3 per gallon gasoline will seem like a real bargain. I hope that there are long lines at the pump to buy gasoline at $4+ per gallon right before the 2008 elections.
It’s always the same. No matter what happens, more taxpayer money will always fix the problem. What we never see is an accounting for the tax money already being collected. How much gasoline tax money is being directed toward road construction and maintenance? How much money is diverted for other transportation schemes, and how many citizens benefit, as compared to money spent on roads? And, why does any gasoline tax money need to go to the feds at all as opposed to the state? Keeping gasoline tax money in the respective states would be one less kitty for the elected financial whores in Washington to raid for pet projects. Then all we would have to do is watch the state legislators, but at least the money would stay closer to home. There’s more we could and should do, but that enough for now.
Exactly !
When every dime of gasoline and vehicle taxes has been paid back to the Roads Funds from whatever welfare project it was diverted to — then we can talk about whether Roads taxes need adjustment or not.
Just as it is more expensive per sf to put an addition on a home than it is to build one from scratch, you would think it would be less expensive to build a new bridge than to attempt to rebuild an old one.
It should be easier, cheaper, and faster to design and build a new one where you don’t have to worry about scheduling around existing traffic.
The diversion of gasoline taxes to light rail is the epitome of social engineering, if you think about it.
It is penalizing the people that are not well-served by light rail lines in order to subsidize the cost of people for whom light rail is convenient. The government has decided light rail is a societal goal for some reason.
It has nothing to do with income levels, either. There are plenty of poor people getting soaked by gas taxes to subsidize train fares for high-income workers that just happen to live and work close to railheads.
I’ve got nothing against trains. (I’d love to be able to sit and read and have coffee on my morning commute.) But why can’t they support themselves ?
Just looking at the design of the one that fell, I don’t think there was any way of fixing it. But then again, if the city council would have asked the citizens to build a safer bridge I am sure they would have been turned down.
Thomas Sowell had a good article yesterday on this.
He points out that the incentives are all wrong for politicians to spend money on maintenance because there is no ribbon-cutting ceremony for maintenance projects. To get re-elected, pols want to be seen building new projects.
Sowell’s suggestion is that maybe bridges and other infrastructure should be privatized.
I think the pols could get their photo-ops by replacing aging infrastructure.
Is that the same $2.1 billion that $1 billion was taken out for mass transit? (lightrail to the airport, walking paths and bikeways)
Rape and pillage the taxpayer with the politicians latest excuse for a tax hike.
Sorry, I forgot. It isn’t my money anyway, according to virtually every pol.
Increase the tolls on the bridges and use that money to pay for it, and stop diverting toll revenue to the ‘children’.
Increase the tolls on the bridges and use that money to pay for it, and stop diverting toll revenue to the ‘children’.
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