Living in a state with a governor who is an anti-gas tax FANATIC (Texas), I can tell you that there are things worse than paying an extra 10 cents per gallon.
First, we had to deal with an INSANE plan to grab HUGE amounts of private land, just to hand over to private companies for monopoly-protected tolling (the plan has since been killed, more or less). Now we still deal with what should be freeways, but instead charge us 25 cents per mile to drive - for those mathematically challenged, figure it’s equivalent to paying $10 per gallon for gas, because that is what it comes out to for a typical car.
Yes, we all HATE gas taxes...but having governors that sell off highways and rights of way to foreign companies is not so great either. The bottom line is that if you want to be able to drive around, plan to pay a REASONABLE tax on gas, otherwise get tolled THROUGH THE TEETH, as in many thousands of dollars per year.
Sorry if I (again) offended the Perry Girls.
I agree. Government has the legitimate authority to raise taxes to pay for public uses. Note that I use the original constitutional concept, not the idea of paying for anything that has a public purpose (meaning everything government wants to do).
Plus, it’s factually true that taxes that aren’t indexed to inflation lose value over time. As the article notes, the tax lost 60% of it’s value since 1992, a staggering loss of value thanks to our federal government btw.
The problem here, I think, is that so much of these taxes are simply squandered. The government pays far more and the work takes far longer than they should.
BobL, as I believe I have said before, I’m not so much against the tax hike itself, as I am against the way it’s doled out. When it comes to transportation revenues (gas tax, a piece of the sales tax, etc.), about half of what’s not stolen to balance the general budget is used for mass transit, leaving the roads to decay and degenerate.
I’m simply not going to support a gas tax increase, unless I know that the hulking wreck known as Georgia Avenue in Aspen Hill will be fixed, unless I know that widening of highways that need to be widened will actually be done, unless I know that the coming interchange between Georgia Avenue and Randolph Road and other projects will actually commence as promised, etc.
But with this being a corrupt, Democrat state, I wouldn’t hold my breath.
Why do you have such a hate-fest over toll roads?
The owners of such roads want to maximize their profits, so when they see that there isn’t enough capacity to meet demand, they will expand the road... unlike the government.
Plus, they keep the roads in better condition, for the same reason.
And this is what you rally against?