Re: State sounds alarm over road funding

On Mon, 30 Jul 2007 20:37:04 -0500, Rich Piehl
<rpiehl5REMOVETHISFOR@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

pigsty1953@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
It is not anything I have not heard before. It is not ignorant, it is
reality based, so what are you worried about?
But I do disagree. A flat tax is inherently reqressive, that is its
main problem. IOW the less you make, the higher percentage you pay.
That is what is so regressive about sales taxes. Poor people pay a
higher percentage.
No, a 10% tax is a 10% tax. Whether you're making $5K a year or $500K a
year. What could be fairer than that?



It is horribly unfair, and you know it. 10% of $5K is $500, that
hurts a lot more to some one making $5K then 10% of $500K which is
$50,000. And that sir is one of the reasons it will never happen.


Ah, so what you're proposing is taking from the rich and for the benefit
of the poor? It's called socialism.







Now if you're talking about making the wealthy pay a higher percentage
of their income because they can "afford" more then you're not talking
about a flat tax.



Now is it your feeling that transportation be funded out of general
revenues? If it is I will disagree with that also.
Transportation is NOT education. That is the reason the gas tax was
instituted initially, so that transportation was funded by the users.
Transportation is just as vital to the functioning of our society as
education is. You may disagree, but it is true. Remove the
transportation system and watch the country grind to a halt. Same
effect as having an uneducated society.


You miss the point. No one is talking about removing the
transportation system, just how to pay for it. If you fund it out of
general revenues it has to compete with things like education, law
enforcement, parks, welfare, etc, and it won't do as well as if it has
its own source of funding.

For many years NJ had that system of placing all revenues into the
general fund and funding everything out of that stream.
Believe me it was not good for transportation.



Roads are no more important than all the others. Neither are they any
less important. They get no special privilege. Nor do they get a
penalty.

One reason why I support a dedicated tax stream for roads that relates
at least overall need and incremental use is that properly costed
transportation is an economic good. I suspect that we are subsidizing
the transportation costs of having production in Mexico and China. I
like the idea that there are fuel excise taxes in Canada with those
taxes included in the price when calculating the sales tax. I like
the Canadian system of charging sales tax on all tickets (rail, bus,
air). It makes us understand the costs of mobility. We may need to
go to a fuel excise tax replacement and I would like one that is
distance and weight based without the big brother aspects.

There's ALWAYS going to be a give and take in which program gets funded.
It's the nature of the beast.

Take care,
Rich

God bless the USA
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: State sounds alarm over road funding
    ... A flat tax is inherently reqressive, ... If it is I will disagree with that also. ... so that transportation was funded by the users. ... transportation system and watch the country grind to a halt. ...
    (misc.transport.road)
  • Re: State sounds alarm over road funding
    ... A flat tax is inherently reqressive, ... If it is I will disagree with that also. ... so that transportation was funded by the users. ... transportation system and watch the country grind to a halt. ...
    (misc.transport.road)
  • Re: {OT} taxing how much we drive may replace gasoline tax
    ... more than one way - not only miles driven, ... "WASHINGTON < Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says he wants to ... share of highway and bridge construction can no longer be counted on to ... quarter-cent for every mile as a substitute for the gas tax. ...
    (alt.autos.toyota)
  • Re: State sounds alarm over road funding
    ... A flat tax is inherently reqressive, ... If it is I will disagree with that also. ... so that transportation was funded by the users. ...
    (misc.transport.road)
  • Re: Potential increase in gasoline tax on the horizon?
    ... And transportation spending, while ... Increasing the federal motor fuel tax (and hopefully, ... something said by one liberal and then apply it to all Democrats on the ... This Democratic Congress is not going to pursue universal health care, ...
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