Those busybodies at the American Society of Civil Engineers (my father was one; I used to read their magazine) gave our infrastructure a D+ again , same as 4 years ago. They call for increasing the federal fuel tax by 25¢/gallon. I say get rid of the federal fuel tax and the highway trust fund.
Don’t you think it is time for you to find yourself a political forum.
8 Likes
If I didn’t have to pay fuel taxes I could have afforded a new carburetor.
1 Like
Here you go, free of charge
I hope you’re grateful 
4 Likes
We don’t need a tax increase.
I pay part of my township taxes for roads.
I pay county tax for roads.
I pay a recently passed county road commission millage for additional road building/maintenance.
I pay one of the highest state gas taxes in the country for roads.
I pay enough road tax. I don’t feel that it’s being used wisely.
CSA
Without these things we wouldn’t have the interstate highway system.
Unfortunately, the funds started being misused by politicians to control states’ actions.
2 Likes
I heard on the radio today there’s not much chance of any fed fuel tax increase passing, so likely not an issue. I don’t think many folks would disagree however that somehow the road maintenance has to be paid for.
Here in the North, we need more highway funds for roads and bridges, not less. Our roads and bridges are crumbling faster than we are rebuilding them.
Our Thruway tolls are being diverted to pay for the operation of the Erie canal system for pleasure boaters and downstate NY freeways.
Do you feel it would be less painful to pay for your highways at the local level rather than federal?
Locally we have a 1.5 billion dollar Interstate/highway interchange project beginning, I don’t think I want this project added to my property taxes, the interstate highways are used by all.
I am sure it will pass in CA, somehow for every thing in CA with have a measure to “just” add another 0.25% on the sales tax to fund it. At some point it might be cheaper to drive to another state for grocery shopping.
Hear, hear!
I’ll accept a fuel tax increase graciously the day gov’t convinces me that it is capable of competently stewarding said funds, and making sure 100% of it goes to road construction, bid at prevailing wages, and not on pork and other “pet projects.”
Alas, gov’t has a long and storied history of mis-appropriating funds that would get you “tossed in the hoosegow” IRL (cough, cough…ERISA). As such, I’m gonna “knee-jerk” resist any tax increase until gov’t demonstrates its fiscal responsibility first. Giving more money than you have to, to an organization 19.7T in the hole, is like loaning money to a crackhead…
3 Likes
CA is long…but narrow. You’d think an enterprising soul could get get some tankage, and come up with an excuse to make a sojourn to Reno every month or so…
3 Likes
Ooooh Shiny !!
The federal tax on gasoline has been 18.4 cents/gallon since 1993. We have effectively gotten a tax cut since then because of inflation. The equivalent today is 30 cents/gallon. Add in the increase in fuel economy, and the revenues from 43.4 cents/gallon is about equal to the revenues generated in 1993.
1 Like
Instead of taxes, everybody could pitch in 1 day a month on a road crew. The Militia Acts of 1792 required every White male citizen aged 18-45 to own a rifle or musket and ammunition and show up for training semi-annually. Do the same thing for roads.
Federal taxes shift costs between states: if the Feds spent as much money in the state of X that they collected in the state of X, they could just let X collect the tax themselves. When the Feds no longer collect a fuel tax, the states that want to hire professionals to build their roads will tax their citizens (or fuel-purchasers or road-users) to build as much road as they want. The DIYers can institute mandatory road crews for all White male citizens aged 18-45.
Thanks!
Well, count me out, in that case 
I don’t think I could pass for “white” 
I’m not a citizen 
What about all the people with physical and/or mental conditions. Would you require them to show up and “do their best” or would require them to perform some kind of alternate work. Perhaps they could man the phones? 
Perfect! How many decades past 45 are you?
Let’s make the kids do It!
1 Like
One day is 5% of a month and I would much prefer to give one day’s worth of my monthly income rather than work for the state/county one day. But isn’t that what taxes accomplish? Of course those years that my total income tax bill was over 45%, not to mention FICA tax, sales tax, property tax, automobile tax, fuel tax and road tolls would have resulted in my working as many days for the government as I did at my business.
This must be satire. 1/30 of the adults between 18 and 45 years of age in Albuquerque for example would be more than 6000 people, how are you going to keep 6000 untrained workers out of trouble?
I pay less than $4 each month in federal gasoline tax, I think that is reasonable.
Let us know when you receive that free carburetor.
4 Likes
Well, I always was a fan of WPA, and I don’t see why gov’t assistance can’t be tied to building roads (or similar) vs. just getting a check: less abuse potential, you learn a skill you can later put to use in the private sector, and you develop a sense of “ownership” in your country.
(And roadways are car-related; just sayin’)
1 Like