General

[patentpending]

Originally Posted by Jaan

OKay, to play Devil's Advocate...

How many times have you had a tire and / or rim destroyed because of a pothole? I can remember two times off the top of my head. Probably cost me $100 a pop...no pun intended.

Sooooooo...keep gas taxes down and let the roads go to crap and have people spend more on fixing tires, suspensions etc, or raise taxes and keep the road somewhat decent with less wear and tear on the cars.

I honestly think one of the problems these days is that people can't see beyond their own noses. People need simplistic George W. Bush type answers, not real long term solutions.

How much of that money do you think is actually going to go to fixing potholes though? I guarantee most of the money will go to construction workers working on some new great idea that ends up failing massively because of poor planning.

[Jaan]

Originally Posted by patentpending

How much of that money do you think is actually going to go to fixing potholes though? I guarantee most of the money will go to construction workers working on some new great idea that ends up failing massively because of poor planning.

I wasn't talking about government corruption and mismanagement, that's a whole other story. I was assuming, in the context of discussion, that things would be done legally and with some degree of competence.

I was talking about how things aren't as simple as "higher taxes bad MmmmKay". There ain't no such thing as a free lunch. If you skimp out and don't spend as much fixing the roads, then you'll have worse roads and ergo more wear and tear on vehicles.

Gas taxes seem like a relatively fair way of spreading out the burden of road maintenance to those who use the roads most often. Yes, not every car gets the same gas millage however it's quite common for the vehicles which have the worse gas millage to be the ones that are bigger and heavier and cause more damage to the road per mile driven. Unless you're willing to put GPS tracking devices on every car then I can't think of a more fair way of doing it, especially a system that can't be cheated as easily either.

[Horizon]

Higher gas taxes to pay for roads seems like the fairest way to distribute a user fee, short of tolls. Setting up tolls cost money to build, maintain and staff, so the gas tax makes sense to me. Seems this would be a very "American" way of doing things. If you need it, pay for it. Why should those that don't need the roads as much, pay as much?

Man. I'm drifting further and further towards the right in my old age.

[Lomarandil]

I agree, higher gas taxes are going to be needed for infrastructure work in the next two decades..

This "New New Deal" is well timed.. without it, (maybe even with it), I was predicting an infrastructure crisis within the next 20 years. We've been living on borrowed time from the Interstate programs..

Lo

[Azzy]

Lets try less and more responsible spending first. Branch out and do things like take bids for road repairs, snow removal and the like. Keep it local, and keep it open to bid due to performance and cost. (Most likley, it wont be going to an over arching union shop).

Then, lets talk about using the funds for what they were collected for. Gas taxes for the roads and such. Social security for social security. If you are going to have an excise tax, lets use it for the purpose. When the purpose goes away, let the tax do the same.

But low an behold, Im talking about non partisan thinking here, and worse, talking about governemnt using something as radical as actual thinking and accountability. We dont have it here much any more, it isnt PC.

[craltal]

a little less spending like this would go a long way:

Billions spent by federal government on alternative fuel cars with little to show | ForceChange

[JKR]

Well, paying taxes is patriotic remember?

[PJ]

Originally Posted by JKR

Well, paying taxes is patriotic remember?

So was dumping tea in Boston Harbor, IIRC. One way or another they'll get the money they need/want.

If folks really want to reduce the possible gas tax, then they need to invest in a more fuel efficient vehicle. Better mileage = less fuel used = less spent on additional gas taxes.

[RealtorTommy]

sorry to break all this up but some states may tax mileage....

PORTLAND, Ore. – Oregon is among a growing number of states exploring ways to tax drivers based on the number of miles they drive instead of how much gas they use, even going so far as to install GPS monitoring devices in 300 vehicles. The idea first emerged nearly 10 years ago as Oregon lawmakers worried that fuel-efficient cars such as gas-electric hybrids could pose a threat to road upkeep, which is paid for largely with gasoline taxes

bend over....it's gonna hurt!

[Siress]

Cue Russian accent:
GPS will meet Hammer. Hammer will win.

O! O! Better yet, swipe the tracking devices from some 'state officials' vehicles and relocate them to trains or airplanes.