Posted on 12/26/2014 4:17:54 AM PST by Kaslin
Washington RUNS our lives!!
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Nearly everything we do is in some way related to a government regulation, law, or administrative control. Try to think of something that isn’t subject to pervasive government influence.
There is NOTHING....NOTHING that Washington doesn’t tell us what to do or how to do!!
Interesting. There needs to be more transparency and accountability for how government money (at all levels) is spent. The congress and state legislatures should do a better job of oversight and reporting to the people IMO.
http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/2012/06/lawless-society.html
In my state GA 400 Toll road WAS predicated on ending after paid for.
Secondly, your definition of “user pays” neglects these users already PAY taxes for roads (supposedly) that does not get used for roads, very often.
Lastly, discretion. You can live with it, but I don’t want to. I want my roads free, because I and many many others already pay for them. Make the departments that get the tax money for roads use it for roads, not propose tolls.
Government is always looking to score more money to use for things they already should be doing with the money they have. SPLOSTs are perhaps the worst deceit perpetrated on the taxpayer. It’s always an appeal to “make the other guy pay” nerve once asking government what the hell they did with the money in the first place.
There are many rural counties in many states who would have no interest/benefit from building and maintaining ~36 miles of interstate.
“...and fees can be adjusted to discourage congestion at peak-use hours, as is being done in Colorado, Florida, North Carolina, Texas and Virginia.”
And JUST WHO gets to ‘adjust’ the tolling, and JUST HOW do they plan to collect the tolls without tracking our every movement.
...or perhaps the Democrats are right and conservatives are a bunch of TOTAL IDIOTS.
“Weeks later, we got a toll bill in the mail .A camera got our tag number and traced it through Tennessee DOT and mailed the bill. The toll was $0.41 the postage was I believe $0.48. The postage was more than the toll.”
You were lucky - in Texas toll-by-mail starts at $5.00, plus the toll.
There are states that would JUST LOVE to get their hands on their Interstates for tolling, starting with Pennsylvania, on I-80, which is loaded with trucks passing through.
Pennsylvania could practically get rid of their state income tax, if they are allowed unrestricted tolling on that highway.
Not the country that I grew up in, and not the country I want to leave for my kids.
They may have no interest or perceive no benefit at the present time; I can certainly understand that view. However, they need to evaluate the long term considerations. Although some areas may not have wanted Interstates when they were built, I doubt that many now would remove them if they could. There are myriad transportation efficiencies, commerce advantages and even social conveniences that develop around highway use. This is not to downplay any associated problems, but you don’t want to ignore possible advantages either.
I don’t think many rural counties could financially support the full cost load of construction and then maintenance (including all the rebuildings that have occurred since the 1950s/1960s) of even one interstate crossing the county.
Yes, the cost could be a burden. Maybe the state could ease the pain financially and share in the maintenance work. The point is to keep the feds away from dictating how and when things are done. Hopefully there are ways to do that.
keeping the gas tax money for ourselves and spending it ourselves.
I don’t argue with that concept, but that should actually apply to all taxes on individuals as well, in other words all dollars going to the federal government should go through the state before going to Washington. State needs come first except for national defense.
Montana has ~1198 mi of Interstate and has a State Population of just over a million. ~74.2 inches of I-State/peep.
Rhode Island has ~74 miles of Interstate and a slightly higher population. ~4.5 inches of I-State/peep.
Wyoming has ~910 mi of Interstate and has a State Population of just 580k. ~98 inches of I-State/peep.
Traffic volumes in RI are typically much higher than those in Wyo. and Mont.
Ironically, I-80 in Pennsylvania is one of the best arguments in favor of a state tolling an interstate highway -- and for the exact reason you mentioned here.
I-80 goes through sparsely populated areas, is not as heavily used as urban interstate highways in Pennsylvania, and carries a lot of through traffic that doesn't necessarily pay taxes in PA. And yet there are enormous costs to the taxpayers of PA to keep I-80 in a state of good repair.
Putting a toll on that road is an ideal way to half non-PA taxpayers help foot the bill for a public highway that they use heavily.
“Ironically, I-80 in Pennsylvania is one of the best arguments in favor of a state tolling an interstate highway. Putting a toll on that road is an ideal way to half non-PA taxpayers help foot the bill for a public highway that they use heavily.”
Yep, and they would have tolls TODAY, if that was THE EXTENT of the scheme. But it WAS NOT, the state wanted to divert HUGE AMOUNTS of the toll revenue to SEMPTA and others that have NOTHING TO DO WITH THE TOLL ROAD.
For that ONE REASON the feds REJECTED the proposal.’
Sorry, but MY CASE IS MADE. The tolls would have been MUCH MORE than needed for that road, and it was even too much for the feds to approve of (it violate federal law). Read some history on it. You’ll find out that toll roads are CASH COWS for nothing to do with highways...with only a small portion needed for the actual highway itself. It is the same in VIRTUALLY EVERY CASE where the tolls exceed about 2 cents per mile (for Route 80, it would have been above 10 cents...with the vast majority of the revenue going elsewhere).
There is one benefit to tolls, and that is that they are not progressive.
That, said, I still take back roads to our summer getaway to avoid $25 of tolls (round trip). It costs me less than 0.5hr on a 3 hr trip.
Yet, I don’t see any one in congress or the senate to try and curtail the power of these bureaucrats. I’ll give you two reasons why these politicians are averse to this; 1) They like all these “RULES & REGULATIONS”. Because these are the “LAWS” they would dearly like to pass, but doesn’t have the nerve to do so. 2) They are scared to death of these bureaucrats. Cause should they go against them, these bureaucrats will expose all their wrong doings.
Congress is nothing but lots of posturing, pontification, and hot air. Its like watching a bad movie.
Why bother to vote for representatives who do nothing to stop the excesses of the executive branch?
The bureaucrats do not mind paying their praetorian guards well in order to preserve the status quo.
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