Posted on 02/01/2012 2:40:55 AM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Don't forget the "millionaire's tax" he got passed a few years ago. All it did was cause those affected [who live near the state lines] to move to DE, PA, VA, and WV ...
Tax receipts actually WENT DOWN because of this [and UP in the other states] ...
NOW, he wants to soak about 400,000 people who make $100K [single] and married couples with $150K income ...
What a maroon !!!
The MTA proposed the toll increases. Legislative pressure offered by people like Senator Nancy Jacobs get the MTA to dial back the increases a little bit. The increases will also be used to pay off bonds for the I-95 express lanes north of Baltimore. I’m sure those will be completed any year now...maybe.
And O’Malley wants to toss 50% of the state employees’ retirement costs BACK to the counties ...
Makes his deficit go DOWN - and the counties’ deficit go UP ...
SO, what do the counties have to do? RAISE LOCAL TAXES !!!
MD citizens were sold a bill of goods when they were told that the ICC and other toll projects would be paid for by receipts from the ICC ALONE. The state's "Transportation Study" said so - so it MUST have been true ...
The "Study" was FUNDAMENTALLY flawed.
First, the cost on the ICC - $6+ for cars/$20+ for trucks during rush hour [ONE WAY] ASSUMING THE ENTIRE DISTANCE WAS TRAVELLED. People who live in the I-270 corridor around Gaithersburg DO NOT generally work in the I-95 corridor near Laurel and Baltimore. And vice-versa.
The "Study" was assuming that 20K vehicles would use the road each day - it is more like 14K. Thats $84K per day, or about $25M per year. That is NOT enough to service the interest on the bond issue AND pay for yearly maintenance. Much less pay down the $2.1B debt ...
Second, most people work near the area they live - or in the cities [Baltimore and DC]. That is a North-South commute, NOT an East-West commute. All the ICC does [with its limited exits] is DUMP a small amount of traffic OFF I-270 and I-95 on to Georgia and New Hampshire Avenues, with the commuters STILL needing to travel N-S to get to work. MORE GRIDLOCK [just on different roads] ...
Third, trucks coming down I-95 from out of state [in rush hour] would have to travel down I-95 to Laurel [in gridlock] from the Baltimore Beltway to get to the ICC and THEN pay $20 to get to Gaithersburg. It is easier [AND CHEAPER] for them to take I-70 west to Frederick and then 20 miles south to Gaithersburg. Less traffic, less cost, less hassle, and it only adds about 15 minutes to the trip ...
I recently travelled the entire ICC [when it was still free]. I started in Kensington, got on the Beltway, went up I-270 to the ICC [about 10 minutes]. I then noted the time. It took me about 25 minutes to go from I-270 to I-95 on the ICC [watching for those damn MTA cops]. I then timed it back down I-95, onto the Beltway, and back over to Kensington - 20 minutes.
This was non-rush hour, but the time differential from I-95 over to where the ICC cuts into I-270 was 5 minutes - AND I WOULDA SAVED THE TOLL! The ONLY good thing about the ICC is if I was gonna fly from BWI and was running late. In that case, it is worth paying the toll. Otherwise, it is just a boat anchor ...
“Until the age of FDR, that’s how civil infrastructure was built. It’s the major reason why we are the only industrial country in the world whose railroads are privately owned.”
We were also the first country to have a true FREEWAY system, paid by people that bought gasoline (i.e., the users)...without fat-cats making out like bandits.
If you want to go back to the robber baron days of the railroads, feel free - come move here to Texas, we’re in the middle of repeating that DISASTER.
Personally I think the toll roads are unConstitutional. Our taxes are suppose to pay for roads - so how can they justify charging us more money after they’ve used our taxes to pay for that very road?
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