Obama Administration proposes Interstate system to be tolled

[child of wonder]

Sweet..... now we'll all have to drive around with stickers or little boxes in our cars and the state not only collects tolls, but gets to keep tabs on where we are.

 

[K1052]

Sweet..... now we'll all have to drive around with stickers or little boxes in our cars and the state not only collects tolls, but gets to keep tabs on where we are.

Toll transponders only register when you actually go through a toll, they aren't transmitting your GPS location directly to the NSA on a real time basis.

 

[bshole]

A mileage tax, rate dependent on the size of the vehicle, is the only fair way to do this. Easy to implement as well.

 

[rudder]

He's the highest taxing president? By what standard do you make that claim?

Amount of taxes paid. In terms of dollars sucked from the economy.... the ACA is a whopper. Obama's latest budget proposal will set the highest level of taxation American has seen. Not to mention all the new revenue that is being generated by various regulatory agencies. This is not technically a tax, but sucks money right out of the economy just as fast.

 

[bshole]

Amount of taxes paid. In terms of dollars sucked from the economy.... the ACA is a whopper. Obama's latest budget proposal will set the highest level of taxation American has seen. Not to mention all the new revenue that is being generated by various regulatory agencies. This is not technically a tax, but sucks money right out of the economy just as fast.

LOL. The DJIA just hit another record high this week. Unemployment has fallen to 6.3%. It has taken Obama almost 6 years to fix the seemingly irresolvable crises brought on by Bush policies. You are just nitpicking now.

Obama needs to raise taxes on the rich right NOW. It is a much needed medicine. Buying on credit is a Republican thing, paying for it is Liberal thing..... as evidenced by Obama's attempt to raise taxes (in much the same manner as Clinton).

 

[Jhhnn]

LOL. The DJIA just hit another record high this week. Unemployment has fallen to 6.3%. It has taken Obama almost 6 years to fix the seemingly irresolvable crises brought on by Bush policies. You are just nitpicking now.

Obama needs to raise taxes on the rich right NOW. It is a much needed medicine. Buying on credit is a Republican thing, paying for it is Liberal thing..... as evidenced by Obama's attempt to raise taxes (in much the same manner as Clinton).

Well, yeh, but Righties have been propagandized into believing that the balance sheets of the 1% of the 1% need to be coddled & protected regardless of the price paid by the rest of us.

Not their lifestyles, just their balance sheets. America's wealthiest citizens can easily pay much higher taxes while maintaining their lifestyles entirely.

Ideologically, they believe that owning should equal ruling. They've devoted billions to selling that proposition over the last 40 years, resulting in the highest inequality since 1928 & the economic instability inevitably accompanying it.

Libertopianism is an ideology contrived by those already inconceivably Rich to convince the rest of us that they deserve all they have & more.

Cut taxes! Cut govt! Nothing will stand in our way! We Rule!

 

[rudder]

LOL. The DJIA just hit another record high this week. Unemployment has fallen to 6.3%. It has taken Obama almost 6 years to fix the seemingly irresolvable crises brought on by Bush policies. You are just nitpicking now.

Obama needs to raise taxes on the rich right NOW. It is a much needed medicine. Buying on credit is a Republican thing, paying for it is Liberal thing..... as evidenced by Obama's attempt to raise taxes (in much the same manner as Clinton).

You need to go search another thread or do some googling and try to find out why the DJIA has gotten so high. And we go over this EVERY damn time. The unemployment drops.... but again the labor force participation rate is at new lows and wages are stagnant. C'mon... find another angle please.

New regulations going into effect in 2014 will take $143 billion from the economy.

You know there is a point where the federal government just gets too large.

 

[BUnit1701]

Perhaps instead the government should reduce the NSA's budget and allocate those funds for infrastructure?

Or maybe send some of that sweet QE money into those 'shovel ready jobs' we heard about back in '09 instead of using it to line the pockets Wall St fatcats...

 

[ElFenix]

Sweet..... now we'll all have to drive around with stickers or little boxes in our cars and the state not only collects tolls, but gets to keep tabs on where we are.

The government here is reading your Bluetooth on the highway. No need for tags to know where you are. :ninja:

 

[glenn1]

A mileage tax, rate dependent on the size of the vehicle, is the only fair way to do this. Easy to implement as well.

Fuck no. There's no way we should raise gas taxes disporportionately on the suburban commuters and rural folks when a sizable portion (~20%) of those gas tax funds get spent on urban mass transit, city bike paths, and such. There should be ZERO spent on those things.

 

[Pulsar]

Toll transponders only register when you actually go through a toll, they aren't transmitting your GPS location directly to the NSA on a real time basis.

Right, because knowing when and where you got on and off the toll roads doesn't let them know exactly where you were and when.

Oh wait. It does.

 

[DrPizza]

So, which states with toll roads do you guys think have the nicest looking roads?

I think its PA...

I detect either sarcasm, else insanity.
Put new batteries in the meters, and they're just staring at each other.

 

[K1052]

Right, because knowing when and where you got on and off the toll roads doesn't let them know exactly where you were and when.

Oh wait. It does.

Do you own a cell phone?

 

[chucky2]

Or maybe send some of that sweet QE money into those 'shovel ready jobs' we heard about back in '09 instead of using it to line the pockets Wall St fatcats...

They did that in '09, it was the bailout to the States since States can't print money out of thin air and/or borrow without care like the Fed can. Here they ripped up asphalt roads that had no real issues to repave them with maybe 2" of asphalt, so 1-3 years later, they were F'd up again. That is, they gave money to loyal union voters and repaid union leadership for funneling them those votes.

 

[ElFenix]

the labor force participation rate is at new lows and wages are stagnant

you think that maybe those two things have something to do with each other?

Fuck no. There's no way we should raise gas taxes disporportionately on the suburban commuters and rural folks when a sizable portion (~20%) of those gas tax funds get spent on urban mass transit, city bike paths, and such. There should be ZERO spent on those things.

yeah, suburban commuters don't benefit from decreased traffic in city! that doesn't affect their commute times at all! nor does letting the cleaning lady get to work to clean out the trash cans and vacuum the floors help out!

downtown houston could not exist without the mass transit supporting it. there's not enough room for everyone to park, traffic would be too bad for people to get into it, so you'd have even more far flung business centers and lowered real estate pricing downtown. know who benefits from mass transit projects? hines.

 

[fskimospy]

Amount of taxes paid. In terms of dollars sucked from the economy.... the ACA is a whopper. Obama's latest budget proposal will set the highest level of taxation American has seen. Not to mention all the new revenue that is being generated by various regulatory agencies. This is not technically a tax, but sucks money right out of the economy just as fast.

Factually false. (in fact it's not even close)

http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxfacts/displayafact.cfm?Docid=205

 

[piasabird]

Chicago or rather Illinois has one of the highest State Fuel Taxes.

I live in Illinois.

 

[rudder]

Factually false. (in fact it's not even close)

http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxfacts/displayafact.cfm?Docid=205

As a percentage of GDP during the period this this proposed budget the tax rate will be higher for a longer sustained period than any other time in history. Thankfully obama will be out of office. I am also glad you ignored the hidden taxes of the regulatory agencies. These are now and are sucking money out of the economy.

You should study how California relies too much on taxing the wealthiest residents. Spending stays high and a slowdown in the economy hits the wealthiest. Now there is a reduction in tax revenue. California relies on something like 13% of the taxpayers to foot 83% of the tax bill. When the stock market tanks... so does that revenue.

And now... a slightly promising sign on 288,000 jobs added.... but these are mostly low wage positions. By 2019 the federal spending will be almost $2 trillion higher than in 2008. Instead of the government sucking in more money maybe they should consider cutting spending? Nah... the government knows how to manage our lives better so I guess we should stay the course.

More spending... more taxes. Lovely.

 

[HumblePie]

It apparent you haven't lived in Houston in the past few years. The population has exploded and if you're not using toll roads to get around you can plan on sitting in traffic or crawling like a slug.

I left in 2009. I lived off 290 in Cypress area. Wasn't that hard to avoid the tollways. I worked off Hollister and 290 so I only had to take 290 down straight there. I could go around 1960/6 instead of the beltway. Even the few times I had to go around the beltway, there were ways to get around that didn't have to use the toll. GPS devices are a wonderful thing in showing you how to navigate through areas that you thought would be strangled if you didn't use the toll.

 

[HumblePie]

His comments were misguided. Its not a D or R thing. And its not really controlled locally.

Most of the tollways in Texas are state highways, which are then under control by regional toll authorities. Its not the local yocals who get to decide whats going to be a toll, its TXDOT and the State. The states transportation policy is to mainly use tolling to help cover TXDOTs funding shortfall.


DFW had
Dallas North Tollway
George Bush Turnpike
Sam Rayburn Tollway

Then they added and are in the process of adding
DFW Connecter(toll lanes)
635(toll lanes)
North Tarrant Express(820 and Airport Freeway)
Chisholm Trail Parkway(supposed to open this month)
Trinity Express(to be built completion TBD)
360 Tollway(to be built completion TBD).

What do most of these things have in common? The upgrades/improvements/expansions are all over a decade overdue. The other thing is all but one was a pre-existing road(Chisholm Trail is entirely new, the rest aren't). The State is using tolls to maintain and expand existing roads because they won't spend money on keeping up with growth.

No not really. San Antonio doesn't have toll roads because the politicians here prevent TXDOT or any other agency from putting them in. Trust me they want to and push back, but San Antonio has flatly prevented them.

As for the suburbs of the major metro areas with toll roads, the roadways themselves originate from the metro area which are D controlled. The politicians there are actively trying to put them in there along with red light ticketing cameras and speed trap ticketing cameras in places. Again, something other major cities are actively resisting such as San Antonio (which is also D controlled).

 

[HumblePie]

harris county, which owns and operates the toll road, is republican controlled.

Not really....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harris_County,_Texas

It's a swing area. It's seat is Houston, which has a D major. Also, the NW side, which is where most of the toll roads, are controlled by D. The republicans in the major metro area tend to vote liberal on many social issues and tax issues, while being conservative on the rest. Again, swing area where people call themselves R, but tend to vote D.

 

[Subyman]

Pay for use doesn't sound too bad to me. Wish they'd foster a toll system standard though to be used in all 50 states (not that HI needs it, but still), for example, that way different vendors can build to that standard and the iPass I have for Chicago area commuting will work when I take my trip out west.

This problem, if it is to be solved fairly to all, will need to be solved eventually. When electric vehicles are the norm, fuel tax receipts will go way down. Other than taking a % of tax from a tax on electric cars for road dues, what other solution could they put in place to pay for road upkeep?

Chuck

Yeah, doesn't sound too bad until you end up still paying gas tax and registration on top of the "use tax." I would seriously think about not going to certain parts of town due to tolls, which would only restrict commerce.

 

[ElFenix]

Not really....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harris_County,_Texas

It's a swing area. It's seat is Houston, which has a D major. Also, the NW side, which is where most of the toll roads, are controlled by D. The republicans in the major metro area tend to vote liberal on many social issues and tax issues, while being conservative on the rest. Again, swing area where people call themselves R, but tend to vote D.

harris county government is R. the county judge is R and 3 of the 4 county commissioners are R. the county owns and operates the toll road and is run by R.

i don't know where you get the assertion that most toll roads around here are on the NW side. there's a ring toll road (BW8) a north toll road (mostly serving republicans who live in monty county to get to downtown), 2 west toll roads (one of which extends into heavily republican FB county), and a SW toll road (owned by FB county, operated by harris). there's another ring road that just had a portion completed going into the NW side. they're finally now in the planning stages to put some tolls up 249 and 290, but of the built toll roads in the area, 1 is a ring road, 2 are west, 1 is north, one is SW, and one is part of a ring road that links W to NW.

further, the assertion that the NW side is controlled by D is laughable. there's 7 texas house districts fairly considered to be on the NW side.
126 - R
130 - R
132 - R
135 - R
138 - R
139 - D
150 - R

 

[chucky2]

Yeah, doesn't sound too bad until you end up still paying gas tax and registration on top of the "use tax." I would seriously think about not going to certain parts of town due to tolls, which would only restrict commerce.

They will never will get rid of registration because it's just profit for Gov. I have to get a new sticker for my plate every year in IL, which costs like $101 this year I believe. That will continue with electric vehicles.

But what is going to be difficult with electrics is the fuel tax. Already the fuel tax is too low, and Politician being Politician are loath to raise it because they don't want re-election having more risk placed on it due to having 'raised taxes' - and no one likes paying more for gas.

So what are the Pols going to do when technology advances far enough where providing affordable quality electric transpo that fits the needs (real and imagined) of the average US vehicle buyer?

Chuck

 

[piasabird]

I have seen a trend in this country where city dwellers are sometimes pitted against those people who live in more rural areas of a state. Many states have a high concentration around cities and everyone else becomes the minority that is enslaved to will of the city dwellers. It is like an us/them situation where the rural minority have no representation.