Wow. What a hit on rural PA. Here in The Big Empty it will be the death knell to small towns. At this time the food deserts are little talked about but...having to go 20 miles to get groceries is already hard and having to go 40 miles for a decent job is really, really hard, but having to go 90 miles for really good medical care is almost impossible now. Shuster has always been on the shady side. We have known this but why should anyone else run? Really.
Assuming that the gas tax increase is for HIGHWAYS (as in freeways), not sound walls, bike trails, or Philidephia’s transit system, I’m cool with it. Our family burns, maybe 1000 gallons of gas a year - so the 15 cents being talked about would be $150 per year. Trump’s tax cut gave me 12 times that amount.
But, unfortunately, that’s not what TRUMP is talking about, it’s what Shuster is talking about. Trump’s people want to sell off our Interstates to foreign companies so that they can use their monopolies to toll the hell out of us (we’re already seeing over $1.00 per mile in some situations) - unfortunately Trump’s tax cut doesn’t come close to covering that for people forced to pay those tolls.
Now, of course, they won’t say they’re doing the above, they’ll just lift all the tolling restrictions and let the states do as they wish - which will, again, result in the highways being sold to foreign interests for a relatively small pot of cash in exchange for unrestricted tolling (exactly what happened to the Indian Turnpike, under Mitch Daniels).
So - I’m with Shuster here, providing the money is used for highways. Trump, in this case, can go to hell if he wants to let foreign entities stick toll booths on our Interstates - they are JUST FINE being FREE, in most cases.
Or Bill and Bud Shyster as many locals refer to them....
Mission Accomplished. What is needed now is maintenance and short connectors for the existing system. Maintenance and short connectors are best done by the states and not by the central planners in the Beltway ... not by the lobbyist friends and girlfriends of the Establishment Congressmen.
Abolish all Federal energy,transportation and utility taxes with a 5 year transition period. Tell the tax collectors, mostly the energy companies, to pay the taxes collected directly to the state in which collected. The states would have 5 years to replace the Federal taxes with state taxes (or not).
The states are much better qualified to move quickly to do the shovel ready projects. And, of course, eliminate most of the Dept of Transportation. Maybe keep a couple Safety agencies and pay for them out of general revenue funds.
Drain the transportation swamp.
I don’t have a problem with fuel taxes or tolls if the money only goes to the roads being used. Property taxes also go to help a majority of roads.
The money must be tied to what it is meant to cover. If the roads cost a lot, then a lot of money must be gathered.
If you use a road, or anything else that is a public good, then yes, you must pay toward that.
This is one reason people shop locally—to reduce time and cost.
It is simple economics.
Stop all these senseless wars and foreign entanglements, bring our boys home, and redeploy these trillions of dollars and valuable human resources to rebuild the deteriorating infrastructure.
Use Thorium energy.
Problem solved.
High time to send the NeoCon nutjobs to the back of the bus. Or better yet, throw them under the bus.