Posted on 10/13/2004 9:12:17 AM PDT by illumini
Remember the Boston Tea Party?
Get ready for the AUSTIN TOLL PARTY.
Bumper stickers in Austin read: "AustinTollParty.com Stop The Double Tax Toll Plan". A billboard near the 8th-street downtown exit from I-35 echos the theme.
Go to website: http://www.austintollparty.com to get the details. There you will see a map outlining the plan to make all of Austin's EXISTING commuter highways part of a toll road system. The filthy rascals started building toll booths before the plan was "officially" approved by CAMPO. We have uncovered evidence of conflict of interest on part of some appointed politicans on the CAMPO board.
If you live in or around Austin, Texas your daily commute is about to become a LOT more expensive.
Your car may as well get 2 miles to the gallon!
Please attend the RECALL RALLY this Monday, October 18th. We are seeking signatures of Austin voters on a petition to hold early elections for Mayor and two city council members identified on the Austin Toll Party website.
"There will be live music and speakers from across the spectrum. This is the most populist political drive ever in the State of Texas, and we need your participation".
We The People need to take back our city and our roads. You can help: Got to the website, and follow steps one through five. Sign a petition.
RECALL RALLY:
SPEAKERS: Citizens of all persuasions, along with any politician who will take a stand with the people of central Texas.
VOLUNTEERS!! Call us or email us today if you want to volunteer. We plan to be at all the polls starting with early voting on the 18th through the 29th and on election day. Lets get the recall election on the May ballott. WE NEED YOU!
RADIO HOSTS: Please mention this on the air through election day. THANK YOU!
There is a HUGE push up here to get the residents of Arlington to build a new Cowboys stadium.... they're touting the benefits.... of course if it made economic sense they wouldn't need taxdollars.
And the Astrodome and the Summit (Compaq Center) are still standing and in no way impaired in their serviceability for athletics........this was all about corporate egotism and luxury boxes.........and about showing the Big Boys in other towns that the local Downtown Boys (the Greater Houston Partnership and Chamber crowd) could push our people around and micturate on them from a great height.
I just get so torqued, every time I think about it.
Oh and yes, several towns up here want convention center-hotels.
Really crazy.
Please feel free to join us at the rally Monday night!
We are planning to help San Antonio and other communities organize along similar lines. Pople of every stripe are ticked about this one, -and elected officials in both parties are scared to death about the way we are connecting with the people. We are the people, quite literally, and plan to be at the polls with petitions for the recall of Mayor Wynn and two councilmembers ready to sign.
Read the post again. I said "State" tax. The 18.4 cent Federal tax is not a State tax, it is a Federal tax. There is a difference.
I did. The federal gas tax is 18.4 cents a gallon. The state and local taxes are on top of that. State taxes are State funds, and Federal taxes are Federal funds.
Did I miss something here?
Did I miss something here?
Perhaps I misunderstood the intent of your comments. Your response was to Deek's statement:
The problem we have is that Texas is a gas-tax "Donor State". We are paying for everyone else's roads.
His statement was correct. A large portion of the the total highway funding comes from the federal gas tax for roadway maintenance and construction activities. There are not adequate funds combined from federal and state gasoline taxes monies to maintain and operate the existing roadway network in the coming years, not to mention the increased capacity which needs to be constructed.
Deek's statement is correct in that federal gas taxes - which are supposed to be used for road construction and maintenance - collected in Texas do not all return to Texas, but a portion of them go to other states, which makes Texas a donor state as far as federal gas taxes collected in Texas are concerned.
Of course, the option exists to increase that state gas tax so that everyone pays even if they don't use those roads which would otherwise be tolled; it seems preferable to me for the user of those specific facilities to pay.
And, the gas tax of $0.20/mile will bring it another $1.5-3.5M/year.
Looks like there might be a chance for a rapid surplus account in the proposal.
I like your coinage of "gulled," but I believe the traditional term is beguiled.
I misunderstood the assertion that Deek made. I try not to think about where my Federal tax dollars go, it gives me a headache.
You and me both; I'd just like to keep more of it or get more of it back.
Nice to hear from you! I agree completely. Communities across Texas have been told behind closed doors,"Toll your roads or lose state funding".
Soulution: Take this information P U B L I C and sue the TxDOT for extortion.
Soulution: Cities should ake this information P U B L I C and sue the TxDOT for extortion.
A 17 cent per mile toll = $3.40 per gallon TAX increase. These are STATE highways going through communities.
This makes one wonder how America built roads when our economy was a fraction of its present strength. . .
Back then the road funds got spent on roads and not thrown into the general fund
1 - We had something similar to this happen in my home county in Florida. And we kept kicking out the county commisioners, every two years, who insited on continuing the tolls, and finally got one to live up to his promise. It took about 4 elections though.
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