We need higher gas taxes?

[Ferocious]

As long as the higher taxes are responsibly spent on highways and such....I'm all for it.

The head of a libertarian think tank and the head of the American Trucking association....both seem to agree. The times are a changing.

link

 

[Fear No Evil]

There is no way to guarantee it will be spent on roads and stuff, so don't do it. Its just going to be wasted by Obama and this democrat congress of thieves and criminals.

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: Fear No Evil
There is no way to guarantee it will be spent on roads and stuff, so don't do it.

Its just going to be wasted by Obama and this democrat congress of thieves and criminals.

Cool, the more thievery the better :thumbsup:

 

[senseamp]

We need higher gas taxes even if it's not spent on roads.

 

[LS8]

Originally posted by: senseamp
We need higher gas taxes even if it's not spent on roads.

Why?

 

[her209]

No, the tax revenue should be put towards finding alternative fuels. If the owners of fuel inefficient vehicles want to consume more fuel, then they can should have a bigger stake in the research costs.

 

[boomerang]

Anyone with a vehicle that gets over 30 miles to a gallon should have to pay an annual surcharge of $1500 to $2000. They're using less gas and aren't contributing their fair share to the maintenance of our highway system.

Why penalize everyone for the mis-deeds of the greenies? If you want fuel efficiency, you've gotta pay.

 

[CADsortaGUY]

Originally posted by: Fear No Evil
There is no way to guarantee it will be spent on roads and stuff, so don't do it. Its just going to be wasted

This. Until the taxes that they sell based on "using it for roads" gets tied directly to it's budget I will not support any tax changes. As it sits now, there is no reason to think that the Feds will use any supposed revenue increases only for roads.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

i think we need to tax tea and stamps also

 

[CrackRabbit]

Originally posted by: LS8

Originally posted by: senseamp
We need higher gas taxes even if it's not spent on roads.

Why?

Some people think that it would cause consumption to go down. I highly doubt it though, unless it is a multiple dollar per gallon tax.

A small increase in the federal gas tax that could ONLY be used for road and bridge repair would get an ok from me. If you think about it a 1 penny gas tax could fund road repair easily, even if consumption goes down.

Edit: To clarify, I agree with CAD's sentiment that support would be conditional to the money going only DOT's road repair budget.

 

[Skitzer]

Originally posted by: senseamp
We need higher gas taxes even if it's not spent on roads.

Wrong

 

[RU482]

legalize weed and tax that...TADA

 

[BarneyFife]

Originally posted by: Fear No Evil
There is no way to guarantee it will be spent on roads and stuff, so don't do it. Its just going to be wasted by Obama and this democrat congress of thieves and criminals.

Gas taxes are not part of the general fund and are only used for transportation purposes in EVERY state. That is why when you have a state budget crisis, the transportation department is least effected because they don't use the general fund to pay their employees or fix the roads.

 

[MonkeyK]

Originally posted by: senseamp
We need higher gas taxes even if it's not spent on roads.

:thumbsup: Although it is probably a good thing if gas taxes were tied to transportation infrastructure in general (including roads, mass transit, urban transit efficiency, and research into alternative powered vehicles)

 

[CallMeJoe]

Originally posted by: BarneyFife

Originally posted by: Fear No Evil
There is no way to guarantee it will be spent on roads and stuff, so don't do it. Its just going to be wasted by Obama and this democrat congress of thieves and criminals.

Gas taxes are not part of the general fund and are only used for transportation purposes in EVERY state. That is why when you have a state budget crisis, the transportation department is least effected because they don't use the general fund to pay their employees or fix the roads.

Gas taxes are kept in a "trust fund" that is typically as effectively isolated from the general fund as the Social Security "trust fund" is isolated from general revenues.

 

[Gonad the Barbarian]

We need better government before we need higher taxes.

 

[smack Down]

Originally posted by: CallMeJoe

Originally posted by: BarneyFife

Originally posted by: Fear No Evil
There is no way to guarantee it will be spent on roads and stuff, so don't do it. Its just going to be wasted by Obama and this democrat congress of thieves and criminals.

Gas taxes are not part of the general fund and are only used for transportation purposes in EVERY state. That is why when you have a state budget crisis, the transportation department is least effected because they don't use the general fund to pay their employees or fix the roads.

Gas taxes are kept in a "trust fund" that is typically as effectively isolated from the general fund as the Social Security "trust fund" is isolated from general revenues.

Umm no. Unlike SS the highway trust fund -8 billion dollars

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F...es)#Methods_of_Finance

 

[BurnItDwn]

Gas taxes absolutely should not be raised. Gas prices have finally come to reasonable levels, and people who were pushed "over the edge" by the high prices are finally now able to reclaim some ground. Raise gas taxes, or bubble the price again, and these same people are just gonna be buried again by debt, and the economy as a whole is going to suffer worse than before.

 

[woodie1]

Originally posted by: Gonad the Barbarian
We need better government before we need higher taxes.

Good luck with that idea.

If there was a way to insure that the additional tax was used as intended I'd be for it.

 

[Fern]

Originally posted by: BarneyFife
-anip-
Gas taxes are not part of the general fund and are only used for transportation purposes in EVERY state. That is why when you have a state budget crisis, the transportation department is least effected because they don't use the general fund to pay their employees or fix the roads.

Not here in NC. They use the gas taxes for general fund purposes.

Unless and until all gas taxes are strictly used for their stated purpose (roads etc) I'm against raising them.

Fern

 

[Atreus21]

It's never a good idea to artificially raise prices.

 

[Robor]

Originally posted by: Fear No Evil
There is no way to guarantee it will be spent on roads and stuff, so don't do it. Its just going to be wasted by Obama and this democrat congress of thieves and criminals.

:roll: Still trying to get the noob hack troll trophy from Julius Shark? Fear not, he got banned. Again.

 

[Robor]

Originally posted by: boomerang
Anyone with a vehicle that gets over 30 miles to a gallon should have to pay an annual surcharge of $1500 to $2000. They're using less gas and aren't contributing their fair share to the maintenance of our highway system.

Why penalize everyone for the mis-deeds of the greenies? If you want fuel efficiency, you've gotta pay.

I'm pretty sure that's a joke but you never know here.

 

[Robor]

Originally posted by: Atreus21
It's never a good idea to artificially raise prices.

It is if the current tax isn't enough to cover the cost of maintaining our roads. We have one of the lowest gas taxes in the world. Raising it a little isn't going to impact us much if at all.

 

[senseamp]

Originally posted by: LS8

Originally posted by: senseamp
We need higher gas taxes even if it's not spent on roads.

Why?

Because a lot of our defense spending goes to securing our sources of oil. Only stands to reason that this cost be passed on to consumers in the price of the final product. Also, I don't see a particular reason to tie gas taxes to road spending. The goal should be to improve overall efficiency of our country, not plow more money into road projects like the Big Dig, bridge to nowhere, etc. Honestly sometimes I see some of the highway constructions and I wonder if we are spending too much on roads. Most of it has to do with carpool lane interchanges, because god forbid Prius drivers have to get out of HOV lane to switch freeways.