If tolls fall, tax may rise

Fort Worth Star-Telegram ^ | March 2, 2007 | Gordon Dickson

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

A bazillion articles from all over Texas about the TTC/Toll Road hearings

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Trans-Texas Corridor PING!

[Hydroshock]

How about something radical, like CUT THE F***ING SPENDING!!!!

[BubbaBobTX]

I understand the Texas Legislature has taken $10 Billion in gas taxes that were earmarked for road building and maintenance during the past 10 years and diverted the money to pay for general budget items. That is why we have no money left for roads.

[ravingnutter]

BS...tell those b*****ds to give us back the money they diverted from the 281 North overpasses to other programs, we have already paid for those roads!

[Ben Ficklin]

[wolfcreek]

Thanks for your hard work, TSR! There's likely to be a bazillion more.


IMO, a lot of what's going on here is people saying, "enough is enough". They see all these stories about the pop doubling, eminent domain, illegal immigration, foreign companies and my favorite, drought and the availability of water.


I've got a suggestion that will not raise taxes or cause people to lose their land. *Population Stabilization*


The #1 complaint people, at least the ones I've talked to, is unbridled development, pollution and just too many damn non-Texans. We Texans love our state and most of us don't like seeing what's happening to it. If Mexico and the rest of the US thinks they can walk all over Texas, they got another thing coming.

[rollo tomasi]

"CUT THE F***ING SPENDING!!!!"

But Boo-hoo, it's for the childrun!™

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

You all could always become a rebuplic again and then restrict immigration from the U.S. and Mexico.

If I were to move to Texas, I sure wouldn't drag Maryland's politics down to your fine state. I would be trying to escape those politics!

[E.G.C.]

BTTT

[untrained skeptic]

How about something radical, like CUT THE F***ING SPENDING!!!!

As far as road construction and maintenance are concerned I'd say those are essential things the government does need to do.

Cutting out the graft and corruption in road construction could help reduce spending, but to some extent the roads do need to be maintained and even expanded in areas of population growth.

The costs of such construction and maintenance keeps going up, and the gas tax has remained a fixed amount per gallon rather than a percentage.

There's a lot of pork in government spending, and I'm sure that a good amount of pork could be trimmed from road construction costs, but expecting a tax of a fixed amount per gallon to continue cover the costs of the state roads despite inflation isn't realistic.

And the roads are a vital part of keeping your state economy healthy.

[hadaclueonce]

Recall Perry Ping!

[Hydroshock]

Please add me to this ping list

[Redbob]

I've got an idea:

Instead of p%^$%ing away all that money on "mass transit" schemes, how about restricting it to what it was intended for?

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

bump.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

You're welcome.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

I am totally in agreement with that. Gasoline taxes, tolls, and driver fees should be restricted to roads.

[wolfcreek]

"You all could always become a republic again and then restrict immigration from the U.S. and Mexico."


Don't think that hasn't crossed many of our minds. Trouble is , I think We would have to go to war. Texas does have the ability to split into 5 congressional districts, giving us 5 times the power in Congress.


If We had the ability to control immigration into the state, We would definitely use a vetting process to include good Conservatives. When you figure out that, You all = Ya'll, you would be a front-runner. LOL!

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

I know who Ron White is. Does that help?