Posted on 08/05/2014 8:18:27 AM PDT by Olog-hai
Well duh. With all those ‘lectric cars on the road, we’ll just have to raise the gas tax on those evil, earth killin’ gas powered machines then. That wasn’t too hard to figure out. Maybe after the (s)elections.
I would not protest raising in the gasoline tax AFTER the use of the funds was limited to roads and not unrelated expenses like bike paths and parks.
-—our hiway dollars should NOT be diverted to fund public
transit in our major cities. Pay what it costs to ride. NO
more FREE rides!!!!
Yes, I would want to see a full accounting as to how the gas taxes are currently being spent, and some information on the bidding process, whether only union shops or those preferring certain demographics are allowed to get the work, etc. And an accounting of what happened to the “shovel ready” stimulus projects funds.
Desginate them as Iraqi highways. Then we’ll rebuild them.
Most of the excise taxes credited to the HTF are not collected by the Federal government directly from the consumer. They are, instead, paid to the Internal Revenue Service by the producer or importer of the taxable product (except in the cases of the tax on trucks and trailers, which is paid by the retailer, and the heavy vehicle use tax, which is paid by the heavy vehicle owner). As a result, most of the Federal fuel taxes come from a handful of States, those where major oil companies are headquartered, and most tire taxes are paid from Ohio, the home of the U.S. tire industry. Of course, these taxes become part of the price of the product and are ultimately paid by the highway user.That sound on the level to you? You really trust the government to administer any so called “trust fund” honestly when it never has, in any case?
User taxes are deposited in the General Fund of the Treasury and the amounts equivalent to these taxes are then transferred on paper to the HTF. Transfers are made at least monthly on the basis of estimates by the Secretary of the Treasury and later adjusted on the basis of actual tax receipts. Amounts in the HTF in excess of current expenditure requirements are invested in public debt securities. Until October 1, 1998, the securities were interest-bearing and interest from the securities was credited to the fund. Since that time, the HTF balance has been invested in non-interest-bearing securities. …
We already have a perfectly fine way to fund highway and road projects.
It’s called the gas and diesel tax. The various government taxes on a gallon of fuel are large enough that that they make more revenue on a gallon of gas than the oil companies make profits.
These tax revenues were intended for road expansion and upkeep projects but they have been diverted by politicians and placed in the generals funds to be wasted and squandered like the rest of our tax dollars.
Now that the fuel tax highway funds have been effectively stolen by politicians , they want more taxes to fund highway projects
Get rid of the graft and over-regulation, then there will be more than enough money.
TEA - "taxed enough already"!!!!
I expect the fed government and the state governments to fund the roads. I expect the IRS to be involved in collecting taxes. I expect the producers/retailers of fuels to be part of the collection taxes.
Nothing in that seems out of line. I like the idea of taxes are related to the use of the service they provide. I would rather not it be funded by income tax or something else.
Let the individual states pay for the construction and maintenance of their own Roads,Bridges and highways.Keep the Feds out of it.
I say keep the states out of it too. Should be private firms. Anything else results in the socialist creep from states to federal government.
Even if the ChiComs finance them?
That’s countenancing socialism. Hasn’t worked anywhere it has been tried.
The IRS has been a demon ever since the Sixteenth Amendment. It’s only a tool for oppression.
Those would not be private firms then, but Communist fronts.
All roads? Take that to all means of transportation? Are you going to give private firms means of eminent domain?
Governments have some useful functions. But the people need to take responsibility and hold them accountable, not just pass it off those looking for investment.
I do like the road bonds ROAR act as a starting point.
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B38FezZsDgvbSWlVRGktcVA1NFR1MDJsa2pqclNkckEyM0RJ/edit
We need interstate highway funds to fund strictly what they were intended for and the states need to go back to paying for their own roads.
To quickly move tanks and troops in case of invasion.
As a general rule of thumb, public transit is subsidized at $4-5$ per mile per passenger and special needs transport is closer to $8/mile.
Larger metro areas may bring that cost down a couple a dollar but it still would not be able to pay for itself as a stand alone entity without FHWA Transit funds
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