here's a novel idea... put ALL the gas/road tax BACK INTO THE ROADWAYS instead of welfare!!!
Posted on 01/15/2008 3:12:07 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
More and higher tolls won't be enough to pay for the nation's highway needs, a bipartisan study panel chaired by the U.S. Secretary of Transportation said today in a long-awaited report.
Instead, Congress will need to raise the federal gas tax by 25 to 40 cents a gallon over five years, according to the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission. The 12-member commission is a bipartisan panel formed by Congress in 2005 to rethink the way the nation builds and pays for its highways and transit systems.
"There is no free lunch," Jack Schenendorf, vice chairman of the commission, said at a news conference Tuesday morning. "No way to accomplish what we are talking about without spending money, and therefore you have to raise money. There is no way to avoid that."
Higher gas taxes, new taxes on transit tickets, and higher freight fees are also part of the panel's recommendations.
"We have concluded that our surface transportation system in America is at a cross roads. We have a looming crisis coming," Mr. Schenendorf said. "A failure to act would be catastrophic to this nation."
In addition to higher fuel taxes – a politically explosive recommendation – the report calls for substantial streamlining of the system used now to build highways, bridges and other major transportation projects.
The report recommends that the nation spend at least $225 billion a year for the next 50 years to improve its highways, passenger rail lines, and transit systems. That’s nearly triple what the nation spends now, including local, state and federal level, Mr. Schenendorf said.
(Excerpt) Read more at dallasnews.com ...
when in doubt raise tolls....just don’t call them taxes!!!!
PING!
Trans-Texas Corridor PING!
how can I start my own tool road?
That came and went long ago. It was over in 1970.
I know! Let's tax the stinkin' rich folks...
I'm not sure. I would start with a shovel and a pick... :)
Well, there really is no free lunch. This particular report is a fascinating one when one considers the costs of various repairs and upgrades. For example, it costs about $1,000,000.00 per mile to upgrade deteriorated rail lines to passenger standards, which also, of course, allows freight to move a substantially higher speeds. Travel by passenger rail is cheaper than by automobile (by about 2 times if one accepts the federal mileage reimbursement rate) and shipping by rail is dramatically cheaper for bulk shipping than trucks. On the other hand, to upgrade one particular 11 mile stretch of highway in the rural NE from four lanes to six, to deal with anticipated increased private automobile and truck traffic, the cost will be about $153,000,000.00!
Yes, let's sink billions more into Amtrak.
Yep..$4 a gallon fuel isn’t far behind. Of course tolls won’t pay for all the roads as we need secondary etc besides major cross country roads......
Damn straight they should raise tolls instead of other kinds of taxes.
People that use something ought to be the people paying for it.
here's a novel idea... put ALL the gas/road tax BACK INTO THE ROADWAYS instead of welfare!!!
As a last kick to the privates for Seattle area tax payers before she’s voted out of office, Governor Fraudorie wants to slap a 6 dollar a day toll on two bridges, one that has that has already been paid off thus its actually illegal to do that, to pay for one that should of been replaced over 10 years ago and is one earthquake/major windstorm away from collapse.
And ofcourse the reason we don’t have the funds to pay for this bridge is because all the democrats currently running this state have spent all these years spending our tax dollars on social programs, supporting bigger unionization kickbacks of state and private workers, and making sure we have more bike trails than anywhere else in the known universe. Oh and don’t forget more trees. Seattle is in desperate need of more trees.
A local talk show host mentioned this today. He found out that only about 10% of the gasoline tax is used on highways and roads. The rest is siphoned off for the general budget and pork barrel projects.
I don't see why they'd want that. I drove through Seattle, and I-90 is surrounded by vegetation. The vegetation is lush, and it surrounds overpasses, tunnel entrances, and so on.
A local talk show host mentioned this today. He found out that only about 10% of the gasoline tax is used on highways and roads. The rest is siphoned off for the general budget and pork barrel projects. So if they would just use the taxes collected FOR THE ROADS, ON THE ROADS, there would be no need to raise taxes.
And what REALLY pisses me off about politicians is that they assume with no afterthought that WE can do with less money but there is absolutely NO WAY the government can do with so much as one nickel less.
First you get a big towel and wrap it around your head.
Unless you own a Mexican Trucking company. Fuel up in Mexico let the Gringos pay for the roads.
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