On 5/25/09, P. J. Alling <[email protected]> wrote: > frank theriault wrote: > > > On Mon, May 25, 2009 at 1:14 PM, P. J. Alling <[email protected]> > wrote: > > <snip> > > > > > > > In the US road taxes, in the form of gasoline taxes not only pay for > road > > > repair but also subsidize various rail systems, which cannot pay for > > > themselves out operating revenue. > > > > > > > > > > That rather rankles me. > > > > Gas taxes don't go into some special fund which is only used to pay > > for the upkeep of roads and pay for money-losing railways. > > > > Like all other taxes, gas taxes go into the general coffers of the > > government and are used to pay for all government expenditures. > > > > You make it sound like motorists "pay their own way" (ie: they alone > > are paying for road repairs) as well as subsidize railways, when in > > fact ~all~ tax payers (motorists or not) contribute for the upkeep of > > roads and railways. > > > > cheers, > > frank > > > > > > > Actually most US States and the US Federal Government maintain the fiction > that there are "Highway trust funds" funded through fuel/road taxes > originally dedicated to road repair and maintenance. In some cases purposes > have been broadened in some to "transportation" trust funds. In those places > that have repurposed those trust funds money no longer has to be regularly > raided for other other transportation projects, most often these days for > capitol expenditures on "green" light rail, then later when the lines don't > pay for themselves, operating funds. Only in a few of the larger cities > have the lines ever paid for themselves. It's not even hard to figure out > the costs in the States that don't have such trust funds set up. The costs > for highway maintenance are published the taxes collected on fuel are > published you subtract one from the other and get the surplus. You do the > same thing for government operated light/commuter rail and find the > deficits. Yes sadly drivers pay for themselves and a lot more.
That's simply not true. e.g. Here in PA state fuel taxes provided most, but not all, of PennDOT's funding. Now they're griping because people are driving less and they don't have as much fuel tax money. Jim Struzzi, the District 11 nincompoop, er, spokesman said, "Fewer travelers do not mean less roadwork needs to be done." Basically, they're fishing for even more money from the general fund. So those of us who shed a car, drive less, take the bus or a bike, and do significantly less damage to the road are going to be required to pay more than our fair share in increased property, income, sales and other taxes. A few ideas. Make vehicle registration more expensive where a public transportation infrastructure already exists. Basically, discourage people in cities from owning more cars than they need. Use the money to help fund the building-out of light rail and bus systems. Or loan it to zipcar-like start-ups. Etc. Make registration fees proportional to vehicle weight and/or the number of axles. Florida has done something like this for a long time. When I lived in Orlando during the mid-90s annual registration for my motorcycle was about $15. My friend's pick-up truck cost a couple hundred a year. Use the money to fix the damn potholes. Tie registration fees to mileage. Drive a lot, pay a lot. There are lots of ways to make the people who use the roadway pay for the roadway without screwing everyone else. Unfortunately, the bureaucrats can't seem to imagine anything other than yet another tax hike. FWIW, I'd also like to see really damn difficult driver testing coupled with retesting in certain circumstances - cause an accident, go through the testing process again, etc. Back to the subject at hand, I still really like Brian's photo and there should be more steam trains. -- Scott Loveless Cigarette-free since December 14th, 2008 http://www.twosixteen.com/fivetoedsloth/ -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
