Posted on 03/11/2014 8:20:10 AM PDT by Kaslin
IMO, the gas tax makes the most sense and is the fairest way to pay for the cost of the roads. Heavier vehicles use more fuel and pay more per mile, which makes sense because they cause more road wear per mile than lighter vehicles.
Now if we could just get them to properly use the taxes collected.
Gas and diesel state tax in Texas is .20 per gallon. That does not include federal tax, which is most assuredly more than state tax. So we are talking .45 per gallon.
So, 20 gallon tank and your tax bill is $9.00.
If you drive the toll road, you could pay $6-$14 depending on length of drive each way, each day. What has happened to this once free country?
Regardless, they have us by the short hairs. They are not going to give up either source of revenue.
LOL! [and likely from the annals of ‘sad, but true’]
The Federal Gas Tax is one tax for the whole country. You try to raise that, and there is a political price to be paid. The state gas taxes are resistant to change, because local legislators know they will lose votes if they raise them.
But if there are a thousand little road use zones, each with it’s own tax rate, each rate can be raised, little by little, with hardly any objection from the taxpaying population.
So the per mile usage fee will increase exponentially, while the Gas Tax has stayed the same for years. The first person who expresses surprise when this happens should be put up against the wall.
Gas taxes force those who use heavier vehicles to pay more, as they do more damage to roads. They motivate higher mileage cars better than mandates do. They are opaque to the government. They require no new infrastructure. There is minimal possibility for an invasion of privacy.
Barone is being a statist troll here.
And just what entity would be in charge of COLLECTING these tolls?
Likewise which one would be responsible for MAINTAINING the road?
Tolls and gas taxes always go up here in PA but the roads actually seem to get worse.
Small laptop to fit over your plate.
Pictures of various state officials license plates.
Slide show them as you drive.
You are getting them anyway...
OnStar. How may I help you?
Ribbet!
What’s a toll booth?
Oooooh...finally, a truly useful tablet app!
Look for bootleg copies of prezzie-limo plates, better known as ‘The Beast’.
Oh the possibilities. Cunning you are. ;>)
Taxes never die. Ever.
The further Barone strays from his area of expertise, the stupider his pieces become.
The way things are around FR these days, it’ll be posted at least two more times. Maybe three.
This crazy idea benefits only those living in major cities with a cross town form of public transport.
What the author prescribes will result in driving more people into urban centers,increasing house prices,reducing the road usage tax base,decreasing vehicle sales,and increasing transportation costs for foods and goods.
Interstate 80/90 through Ohio and Indiana is pretty much the same situation, lots of through traffic that need not stop in the state.
Of course, if you do stop and fuel up, you are double paying for your driving, once by toll and once by gas tax (and maybe a 3rd time via the jacked up monopoly prices at the on-highway service stations). That really makes the politicians smile.
In MN, the idea of a toll road is just a ploy to get approval from the voters who will all think that it's some other guy who's paying the bill. Eventually, more roads will have tolls and the poor driver/voter will eventually find that they are double paying for their driving most of the time, once in tolls and once in gas tax.
We had a similar situation with GA 400, a tollway in Atlanta. Though later than promised, and only after considerable public outcry, the toll booths are coming down right now, no more tolls are being collected. I think they stopped last October.
Let’s just go back to the barter system too, while we are at it. /s
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