Posted on 12/08/2011 8:01:15 AM PST by redreno
(CNN) -- Based on recent history and what's likely to happen to the nation's infrastructure, it's an inescapable conclusion: We will need new and different sources of funding if we are to have the type of transportation system that is needed to support economic prosperity.
For the past 75 years, the U.S. road network has provided the foundation for much of the nation's economic development. This network has not come without a cost; estimates are that the replacement value of the nation's roads is $1.3 trillion.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
There are likely Laffer curve effects that will be unexpected by the economic illiterate “public servants”.
I generally stop reading whenever someone attempts to tell me what to think, feel or believe.
This is one of those times.
(With apologies to the Lake Superior State University's list of banned words) I'm just sayin...
if they think they had their hands full trying to enforce a 55MPH speed limit...
CNN writing about new ways to collect your money rather than on how government should cut spending 60% elsewhere first. I am not shocked.
“...the replacement value of the nation’s roads is $1.3 trillion.”
Isn’t this what the $800 Billion stimulus was supposed to be for?
Truly earth shatteringly stupid idea.
They already shot themselves in the foot in NY by raising their tolls, taxing people who don’t even USE the rail systems for same rail systems, and add to that the TSA at every airport groping old ladies.
All of the above has reduced usage of rail, road, and air travel in NY alone.
A per mile road tax?
How would they even assess that?
Snoopware on your phone or installed on your car?
Give me a break, this isn’t George Orwell’s 1984 no matter HOW badly the leftists want it to be.
I like the idea in general of assessing fees on heavy users of services rather than spreading the cost like peanut butter across all taxpayers.
In many areas, services like fire protection are supported by tax money, but if you still get a bill if you call for an ambulance, for instance. Roads, bridges, highways, etc are shared infrastructure that benefit everyone by enabling commerce, and thus deserve basic support from tax sources. But maybe the idea of setting higher usage fees for heavier users like trucking companies pay today is worth considering.
As one timely example, the distribution of letters and packages should be completely privatized and the government monopoly for USPS to delivery letter mail eliminated to allow competition. Will it be possible to send a piece of paper anywhere for 45 cents? No. But anyone who thinks it is today simply isn’t paying attention when USPS announces their losses and deficits. Let the free market decide what a thing is worth, not the gummint.
I was just thinking of DNA's Quote from HHGTTG when I read the first bits of the story.
I was thinking: "This writer will be one of the first against the wall when the revolution starts!"
Atlanta installed a “HOT Lane” which is a dynamic-pricing pay-per-use lane on a major freeway thru the city.
Huge backlash underway.
Never mind that we ALREADY have a per-mile road tax in the form of gax taxes: several cents per mile, adjusted by rough mass of vehicle (trucks burn, and thus pay, more than low-impact cars & motorcycles).
Exactly!
In NY the gas is taxed at least three times before it even gets to the pump.
The per gallon tax automatically charges the heavy vehicles more than light and high usage versus low. The trouble is that the money collected goes everywhere but roads because it is such a steady stream of income. What doesn’t go directly to general funds gets diverted during road construction and repair with taxes on contractors and materials and impact fees..like building new schools etc.
So the government can control where you go, also.
I remember as a child, feeling horrified when I found out in communist countries people weren’t free to move from place to place. Never dreamed of it here.
Wouldn’t that mean that some bureaucrat would know where I’ve been and when? I’m not real wild about that idea.
The only way to do this involves invading your privacy - Fourth Amendment infringement.
Think Big Brother GPS recorder in every car.
The federal gasoline tax is a de facto mileage tax that has been in place for years. Our thieving government just spends the money on other socialistic causes.
It isn't about revenue, it's about punishment and control.
This is all about restricting movement of the population. It is easier to keep control when everyone is kept from moving around the country. The next proposition will be internal passports to further restrict movement.
Ding, ding, ding!!!! We have a winner!!!!
We already have one in the gas tax, the more you drive the more you pay.
Tax trucking services at a higher rate?
You’re forgetting that, when it comes to corporate taxes, the ones that end up paying it, are the consumers.
A higher fee to the trucking services will be passed on to the delivery of those goods, in the same way that higher gas prices result in higher price for goods at the retail level.
A corporate tax, or a higher gas tax to the delivery services, is the same as a hidden tax on consumers.
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