Give me a break!
All we need is another tax. Don’t we pay enough as it is?
While what you say sounds noble it is pure BS.
First off, if the money already collected for the infrastructure actually went to the roads, bridges, and other forms of transportation, we would have roads paved with gold. But in reality most of the money collected supposedly for this purpose goes elsewhere.
The reason being is, at all levels of government, there is a black hole known as the “general fund”. This is where all monies go, and the government(s) dispense it as they see fit.
We as a public, have no idea of where all the monies go. but if the government needs a portion of our fuel tax money for social programs, thats where it goes. If they need some for salaries, well thats where it goes.
Now, if the government would come up with an understandable accounting of where the money goes they already collect, and they can prove a shortfall, that would be a different story…
The government will spend more than it takes in as long as we let them.
As for me. another 50 cents a gallon may cost me $15 or $20 a week. And for the most part I drive a Prius! That money is less I have to spend on other needs, and entertainment. It is not that I am lying on a bed full of cash as the government must think I am. And everytime the cost of fuel goes up the cost of everything else does. So I may not be spending cash on necessities as I did before. And certainly not on luxuries or entertainment.
Why do you think the economy is in the toilet?
People are broke as the high cost of fuel drained them. Their expenses rose so they tightened their belts. Jobs are lost, businesses close.
The entire world economy is in a death spiral we cannot come out of.
Government costs have to be slashed to the bone.
Raising the gas tax just adds to the problems we already face…
I agree with your proposal. If we don’t raise the gasoline tax to help fund alternative fuels and build infrastructure, we will never create alternative fuels or have efficient public transportation.
We will not fix our traffic problem by building more lanes just as we would not enhanced our transportation problems in the early 1900 by raising more horses.
An increase in the price of gasoline now will be painless.
I heard this today, 1/8, on the podcast. I like his idea. Did you know that Washington state is considering taxing mileage rather than fuel?
Our infrastructure needs repairs and we need new transportation methods. Look at our geography and design systems to fit.
Maybe the I-95 corridor, LA, SF, Dallas and large metro areas start to look like European cities with trains and buses. The wide open spaces in between get interstate upgrades.
Another revenue source is motor vehicle registrations. Most states register SUVs as trucks rather than cars and the fee is lower. Start registering SUVs and crossovers as cars, and increase state revenues which can be put back into infrastructure.
One guy’s view.
Hi guys:
I do not like profanity, so I will not tell you what to do with your added gas tax!!
You know where it would go, to more liberal causes, maybe we could get some more teenage girls to get pregnant and pay them to do so. Better yet, hire some more State, Local or Fed. govt. employees to do little. As you may know in New Jersey 97% of all new jobs this past year were govt!!! Just what we need, more tax money to hire and pay for votes!
I am 73 and started to work full time and go to school at age 15. Now retired and still getting hit for more taxes everyday from all sides. It is hard for me to imagine people like yourselves that have worked hard for what you have, want the rest of us to pay for people not wanting to work or taking no resposibility for their actions! They just want to ride the backs of the rest of us along the way. And by the way, that includes many senior citizens. Want a gas tax to save SS for the next generation? That might have merit! Just wait untill that bomb drops! Help thoes in real need? Absolutly, but not every other lazy ass or UAW member that wants to retire at 55 with near full pay and benefits expecting the taxpayer to fund him, ie bailout.
This is a fine idea, right up to the point when it isn’t. Congress will take the money and spend it on Medicare or Social Security (to buy votes) and start casting about for another sucker idea. Remember, if they pass a law requiring the money be spent on roads they can pass another law overturning the old law (Prohabition anyone?)
If I need to repair my infrastructre, then I make a hard decision and take the money from something else I had budgeted.
The problem of being able to print your own money is that you think everyone else can too!
I listened to Ray’s diatribe regarding raising the gas tax by $.50 per gallon. Are the people in Massachusetts so secluded from the rest of the country they have no idea what is going on? Here’s some information:
1.) Record unemployment, with more people losing their jobs every day.
2.) Home foreclosures. Some people have no idea where they are going to sleep at
night.
3.) Some people have no idea where their next meal is coming from. Are you aware
of the lines at soup kitchens and local food banks?
4.) Some people are foregoing prescription medications, risking their health in
an effort to put food on the table for their families.
5.) Some people are foregoing proper foods in an effort to pay their utility
bills this winter.
6.) People who no longer have or cannot afford health care coverage.
Do you really think this is the time to increase the gas tax, let alone any tax in this country? Perhaps Ray should poke his head out of his Bostonian Bubble and take a look at what is going on around the rest of (what is supposed to be) the greatest nation in the world!
I think Ray’s energy may be better spent lobbying to tap into some of the TARP funds that are being squandered about without conscience by the financial institutions. Yes, our transportation infrastructure needs attention, as do several other areas (ie. education, health care, etc.), but we should first be concerned about the people in this country. People need jobs, food, clothing, and housing first and foremost.
Jesse Jackson’s ham and eggs philosophy comes into play here. For the rich people it is like the chicken giving up an egg, for the rest of us it is like the pig giving up a ham. It is an unfair tax to the struggling to make it work crowd and should be dismissed in it’s entirety.
We should TAX THINGS WE LIKE LESS, AND THINGS WE DON’T LIKE MORE. So, if we like income we should tax it less, and if we don’t like gasoline usage we should tax it more. That’s a totally different question from HOW MUCH TAX WE SHOULD PAY OVERALL. We could have a small government that just raises a little money from a gas tax or a big one. Americans live much less well than they could if they didn’t go so weird the minute you mention the word taxes. Do you like having a military, street lights, social peace, functioning markets, national parks and cemeteries? Well then, you have to pay taxes. INCREASE THE GAS TAX AND CUT THE PAYROLL TAX.
The problem with your gas tax idea is that there is almost no oversight on how the money would be spent. In the past we have already seen how no state can balance their budget or spend taxes on the money they have been allocated for. There are already many states with taxes included in the cost of gas. I live in oregon, and our governor says there is tough choices that have to made to cut most of the social services, and yet at the same exact time, he wants the state to go on a “borrowing spree” to spend all kinds of taxpayer money on roads, and to create jobs. And yet we already spend more on gas than most states, and have tons of road building or ‘job building’ programs. These jobs that are created, don’t help the economy much, because it’s just more taxpayer money being spent, it’s not ‘creating’ anything as far as productive capacity or things that can be sold, it’s just tax and spend, tax and spend, it’s not selling things, which is what our economy desperately needs. This is the same madness that obama administration wants.
It’s another ‘new deal’ and guess who pays for it, the taxpayer again! it isn’t going to help with the debt. It’s just a game of two step, print more money, or lower interest rates. One of the only ways to help with the green econo,my like the experts have said is to produce, like building alternative energy products like solar etc. that can be sold.
I guess I would agree that an increase in gas tax might go towards making us more energy independent but, wouldn’t it be easier to just reduce the amount of the oil products that the USofA exports every day? like we export 1.5 to 2 million bareels of oil products each day.
might not it make more sense that these exports stay in the United States?
Absolutely correct. In Germany and other countries in Europe, 75% of that very expensive gas is tax. Their highways ie the autobahn are in excellent condition. Any highway in need of repair is repaired.
Like other industrialized countries around the world, they also have excellent mass transit systems and high speed rail.
There is much we can learn from the rest of the world.
I agree that there is a need for more mass transit and for transportation related infrastructure repair, for all the “green” and possible economic benefits that we could realize. I disagree about a 50 cent per gallon gas tax, and who should be underwritten with our tax dollars. Here’s a rant.
First: A progressive tax, not a flat tax, would be far more fair. Put a tax on the income (from all sources) of individuals that exceeds, say, $200,000.00 a year, and strictly dedicate it to mass transit and transportation infrastructure. Likewise, increase corporate tax rates for this purpose.
Second: since it was General Motors that killed light rail in this country, in no way should any of this revenue find its way into that company’s clutches, or those of any other ne’re-do-well car companies. In addition to eliminating mass transit as being against their interests, the car companies’ record has been to resist progress in safety, pollution control, and conservation. They have worked against the common good- let’s not reward them for it. Instead, let new companies build the mass transit railcars and such, and let them be union shops, so that in this case, jobs lost due to changes in what’s produced don’t get replaced by low paying jobs stripped of benefits.
The idea is great, but the commercial side of things needs to be addressed. What do we do to help the truckers of this nation? They operate on thin margins already.
Resolve this part of the tax, and I am all for it even though it does negatively affect my bottom line.
I believe the tax is necessary, not to penalize the largest consumers of gas, but to promote more investment into renewable technology. Of course, I’d rather deal with the problem now and come up with a long-term solution instead of ignoring it/allowing speculation to drive up the cost of gas.
If someone is going to increase the cost of gas, I’d rather it be the government (that claims to have an interest in society at large, though sometimes it seems to not work out that way) rather than private enterprise (which as we’ve seen in the current meltdown, has no such interest in society at large, but only its own self-interest).
I agree on the tax increase, BUT it puts the onus entirely on drivers. It needs to be paired with a mandatory increase in CAFE standards, and that’s where the rub comes. None of our politicians have the scrotal tissue required to face down Detroit and the big car whack-O’s. We should all be driving smart cars by now!
The new higher mileage standard has already been passed by congress, and the 35 mpg corporate average fuel economy (for cars) will be with us in the near future. Calaifornia and some other states have passed an even toughter mileage standard; 35 mpg for all vehicles much sooner.
Agree that Fuel taxes, high horsepower and weight taxes up fron will get drivers to buy the right kind of motor vehicles. A Jeep Grand Cherokee with a 5.7 liter hemi engine sells for close to $100,000 in Europe. In France, the ANNUAL road tax to keep the plates on is about $2000. These type of taxes quickly get owners in the right kind of vehicles.