12 cent federal gas tax increase coming?

[XYZ]

Originally Posted by redneck

.

They could raise it .50 cents a gallon. Or, even $2.00 a gallon.

It wouldn't matter, as any money collected would be misappropriated anyway.



A perpetual way of increasing revenue...

>

Or maybe promising more "shovel ready jobs".

After the money was appropriated and spent they chuckled that there really weren't any "shovel ready jobs".

"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."

[Baltothewolf]

Originally Posted by mechman600

It's hilarious when Americans complain about gas prices. It's $5.50/gallon here. Heck, it's $8.25/gallon including exchange rate in the UK. The difference is mostly tax.

What is minimum wage out there?

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

Otherwise, I find the current infrastructure to be adequate. Go to any other country, developed or undeveloped, and you will not find smoother roads.

Oh, you must live down the block from the director of the highway department, 'cause it sure ain't that way everywhere.

[darcane]

Originally Posted by mechman600

It's hilarious when Americans complain about gas prices. It's $5.50/gallon here. Heck, it's $8.25/gallon including exchange rate in the UK. The difference is mostly tax.

We'd complain about it less if we saw it being used effectively. I hate hearing about all the stupid crap our government spends money on knowing that it came out of my paycheck.

One local project has had $400 million spent in studies and planning for 14 years before construction even began! And it's got almost half a billion in overruns already. This is to replace a bridge that cost $245 million (adjusted to todays dollars) about 50 years ago.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by Fat Charlie

Federal gas taxes were last adjusted in 1993, and the dollar has dropped a bit in value since then...

The roads in my area are smooth too, but maintaining bridges is very expensive. Not as expensive as letting them fall down, though.

What interest should the federal gov't have in roads and bridges outside of interstates?

They need to stop throwing money to any state that has a bad idea about a project they would like federal assistance with.

Oregon wants to build another bridge over the Columbia to help with traffic congestion during rush hours. They want federal money for the project, and then they want it to be a toll bridge.

Toll bridges are a bad idea, funding local projects with national money is a bad idea, and having a wider bridge won't alleviate the traffic problems that Portland has.

As for bridges collapsing; it rarely happens. I don't know anyone, or even know anyone that knows anyone that has been injured from a bridge collapse.

We probably have more bridges per capita than any other place.

Yeah, dangerous bridges need to be repaired, but danger is a relative term. How many people die from poorly controlled intersections per year compared to bridge collapse? I still maintain that traffic management is a better place to spend the money.

Originally Posted by mechman600

It's hilarious when Americans complain about gas prices. It's $5.50/gallon here. Heck, it's $8.25/gallon including exchange rate in the UK. The difference is mostly tax.

It's hilarious when people from other countries imply that Americans have nothing to complain about in comparison to to their own prices, as if they live in a dictatorship and don't have any responsibility for why things suck there.

[Xist]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

My State has so much money they can't think of anything better to do with it than build stadiums for any and every ball-chasing entity that asks for... I mean, demands one. You'd think they could drop the State sales taxes some but nooooooo.

I just saw in the paper that a judge here named Fink ruled that the stadium tax voters approved in 2,000 was unconstitutional; funds needed to go towards highways or something related.

[Frank Lee]

There has been illegal stadium dealings in MN BY LAWMAKERS and govt officials but it seems nobody can do anything about it.

[Fat Charlie]

I've got a cousin outside Minneapolis who crosses the Mississippi, he was already home when I-35 collapsed. My father in law was driving from New York to New Hampshire back in the early 80s and took 95 over the Mianus River. Right before nobody could.

I'm not saying that the bridges are a deadly menace and sadly the real cost isn't in lives- it's the economic disruption. Chris Christie's (alleged, are you happy, folks?) lane reduction only closed two lanes and only lasted a few days, but the gridlock cost a lot of people a lot of time and money.

Properly maintaining existing infrastructure is cheaper than doing without a bridge while it's being rebuilt- and that's good traffic management.

[Hersbird]

They had plenty of money to update those bridges that failed but instead wasted it in other places. Spending money on an old bridge doesn't get as many votes and attention as making a new scenic bike path.

[cowmeat]

We can all counteract the rising gas prices, that's why we're on this site in the first place. Most of the tips/tricks/techniques I use to make driving affordable I've learned right here in the last 5 months. I don't expect things to get better, I expect they're going to get much worse, so I keep learning & modding.

Want to immediately cut your fuel cost by 50% and lower your carbon footprint at the same time? Carpool with one person. (check)

Want to cut it by 66%? Trade in a Land Rover you love, and replace it with a tiny, slow, goofy looking yet insanely efficient car you end up loving even more! (check)

Want to cut it by 75%? Take that econobox, aeromod it until it's unrecognizable and then hypermile the crap out of it (check)

Want to cut it 100 percent? Walk/bike . . . (I'll settle for 75%)