Motie, You are again using a wide brush and water colors to paint detailed gingerbread trim. The wide brush is all too encompassing and the water color paint doesn't hold up in all conditions. Using one instance in whatever state you describe as the "Nanny State" still leaves thousands of instances and 49 other states unaddressed - not all of which are prone to sufficient snow pack for two stroke tracks, of course.
Broad strokes don't take into consideration the wear differential between 18, 6 or even 4 hard driving, braking and turning wheels under max legal road weights and high speeds and a tandem carrying two persons subscribing to Weight Watchers with fully loaded saddle bags. Broad strokes don't address the differential acquisition, construction and maintenance costs per mile to handle the same passenger flow, or a thousand other tax based cost/benefit "nuances" along each transportation corridor, no matter if it be a bike path, interstate or air lane. As for tax allocation, it sounds as if you're more in favor of a user pays system, as you don't want transportation taxes allocated to transportation sectors other than where they are collected. Even when using such a schedule, a tractor-trailer is going to put different burdens on infrastructure than a Yugo, Cressida or Caprice. But the retort the public will always hear is that "truckers are the backbone of America" and therefore should be given a pass - even under a user pays system? Funny...People who don't smoke pay taxes which buy life support for enfasymics and canceritics. People who don't mainline pay dearly for international and domestic drug control policies. People who don't have children pay through the nose for schools, teachers and administrators through elevated property taxes. Frankly, I can hardly wait until the day when the true cost of petroleum production is allocated strictly against the cost of a gallon of petrol, as is largely done in Europe, rather than through hidden taxation as is done here. No doubt transportation industries will really cry foul then, having a strong go at stirring up the public sentiment, using the traditional "increased cost of goods" argument to rally support. And when they succeed, as is often the case, those of us who consume little fuel will continue to heavily subsidize the tax base for those who consume considerably more. So, Motie... I'm sorry. But you won't be seeing me joining you on a soapbox until you can get a little more specific and until those specifics begin to outweigh all the other injustices that are getting painted over and ignored by broad brush strokes. And you probably won't be seeing many tears in my eyes over snowmobilers having their trails re-appropriated. Seven winters in Alaska doesn't give me any great respect for the vast majority of snow mobilers, any more than annual retreats to wilderness areas give me a drop of respect for off road bycyclists who run trekkers off the trails. Besides, if you're talking equity or parity, the horse and buggy industry had the same thing happen to all the trails they originally broke. Now they have the luxury of 3,000 - 45,000 pound "sleds" come crashing through their back seats every time they venture out on the very roads their "industry" once cleared. Todd Swearingen ----- Original Message ----- From: motie_d <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <biofuel@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Friday, June 07, 2002 5:54 PM Subject: [biofuel] Re: EPA Ruling Backfires, Spurs Sales of Diesel Trucks > --- In [EMAIL PROTECTED], "Appal Energy" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Okay...Nothing more inviting in a "discussion" than > > all-encompassing, generally sweeping statements like the one > > below. > > > > Don't suppose anyone has ever calculated the proportions of road > > tax expenditures to see how much went to bicycle paths, how much > > went to pot holes and by-passes and how much went to tarmac and > > terminals? > > > > I certainly wouldn't mind seeing $7,000 from each trucker in the > > US go to nothing but bike paths for an entire year - or just one > > or two good transcontinental bike lanes on an existing highway so > > those who long to travel by bicycle no longer have to be as > > concerned with the numerous motor vehicle operators who can't > > tell the difference and all too frequently could care less what > > the difference is between a family of opossums and a half dozen > > bicyclists. > > > > Just a thought from someone who would still be riding ~500 miles > > a week if they hadn't already been forced off the road ~20 times > > in less than 2 years by ijuts who got their license out of a > > Cracker Jack box. > > > > Todd Swearingen > > > > Then why can't we tax bicycle riders and frequent fliers to pay for > highway repairs? > I wasn't trying to start a pissing contest, but why should truckers > be singled out to pay for bicycle paths and airport runways? The > increase I mentioned was $.05 gallon and was used for bicycle paths > and other non-highway projects. That's pretty easily $5/day increase > for truckers to pay. > Why can't people who fly pay for runways, and bicyclists pay for > bike paths, and transit bus users pay for transit buses? > It's easy to ask for bigger and better things, when someone else has > to pay for it. > > Over the last few years, local snowmobile clubs have roughly been > assimilated by the Nanny State. Local clubs, using local resources, > had a nice network of interconnected snowmobile trails. The State > took over administraqtion of them, and raised the registration fees > for snowmobiles. The money was then used to pave many of the trails > for use by bicycles and In-line skaters. Now snowmobilers are banned > from the trails they built because they damage the blacktop pavement. > Many are hopeful that when the trails fall apart for lack of > maintainance, snowmobiles will again be allowed to use them. I am not > so optomistic. If the State doesn't collect enough revenue to pay for > upkeep, they will be more likely to raise gas taxes on fisherman's > boat motors to pay for it. Fishermen won't be allowed to use the > trails either. > > Motie > > > Biofuel at Journey to Forever: > http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html > > Biofuels list archives: > http://archive.nnytech.net/ > > Please do NOT send "unsubscribe" messages to the list address. > To unsubscribe, send an email to: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service. > > ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Kwick Pick opens locked car doors, front doors, drawers, briefcases, padlocks, and more. On sale now! http://us.click.yahoo.com/ehaLqB/Fg5DAA/Ey.GAA/FGYolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://archive.nnytech.net/ Please do NOT send "unsubscribe" messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
