Posted on 10/28/2017 1:07:17 AM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
BOSTON — One year after the lights went permanently dark inside the Bay State’s remaining human-staffed tollbooths, giving way to the era of all-electronic tolling, a bill on Beacon Hill touted by a powerful Democrat from Lynn would expand tolling throughout Greater Boston, with high-traveled freeways like Route 128, Interstate 93, Interstate 95, and Route 2 transitioning into tollways.
State Senator Thomas McGee, the chairman of the Joint Transportation Committee, filed the bill, “An Act Establishing the Metropolitan Transportation Network,” last January. His bill was heard by the committee on Tuesday. Testifying at the hearing against the bill was Citizens for Limited Taxation’s spokesman Chip Faulkner.
Under McGee’s proposal, the following major roadways would be affected:
(Excerpt) Read more at newbostonpost.com ...
An Act Establishing the Metropolitan Transportation Network
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Everything politicians say is a lie.
Getting ahead of the curve. If E drivetrain breakthroughs are as close as I think, road funding will be a huge issue....
They’re going to run out of other people’s money soon. Stop the SALT deduction...Massachusetts’ communism is out of control and there’s no reason the rest of the country should fund their evil.
The liberals like to talk about taxing the rich, but at the end of the day it is the hard-working commuters and blue collar workers who will take it in the chin on this one.
This is an example of where technology can hurt people. If they had to put physical tollbooths on some of these roads they would have miles and miles of traffic jams. That is why they had to remove physical toll-booths on the Mass Pike.
With electronic billing they can toll anyone anywhere.
I’m actually surprised tolls haven’t been framed as “racist”; that is the key to removing them.
As for electronic billing, I’ve always wondered how much of that is uncollected. I’ve never used such a road, and it seems a very inefficient way to collect tolls.
I’m actually surprised tolls haven’t been framed as “racist”; that is the key to removing them.
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Tolls definitely hurt the poor disproportionately ,, libs generally label anything they don’t like as racist ,,, and as minorities typically have lower paying jobs this fits the bill as harming them... What I don’t understand is putting tolls on FEDERAL INTERSTATES like I-95 ,, that should be easy to fight.
When the main toll road in the state, the Massachusetts Turnpike, was built in the 1950’s it was financed by bonds. Massachusetts citizens were told that, when the bonds were paid off (20-30 years), the tolls would be removed. Never happened. The bonds are paid off. The toll booths are gone, but the tolls remain (and undoubtedly will be rising). When asked about the former promise, Pols said they couldn’t afford to give up the cash flow.
Oh, I like the concept of tolls - they try to match the expenses of a service with the users. If they are too high for poor minorities, they are too high for everyone else as well. As for the tolls on 95, here in NJ until recently we had gasoline prices among the lowest in the nation; it is easy for people to pass through the state without filling up, so we gave them incentive to do so. At the same time, people using 95 pay tolls to do so. I prefer this to CT, where tolls were removed in exchange for a higher gas tax; this basically put the expenses of the roads (and all the out-of-stater using them) on locals, in another state small enough to pass through without buying gas.
If you drive a car, I’ll tax the street,
If you try to sit, I’ll tax your seat.
If you get too cold I’ll tax the heat,
If you take a walk, I’ll tax your feet.
Beatles - TAXMAN
They don’t call it “Taxachusetts” for nothing.
And yet, we have Conservatives explaining that tolls are a great private enterprise avenue to new or updated highways.
We pay gas taxes for that.
These tolls are a noose around our necks.
On a whim they screw with us any time they like.
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