Carona's Tax HikesSubmitted by TCollins on Thu, 02/12/2009 - 7:43am.
A staggering economy, jobs disappearing and businesses failing. So what's State Sen. John Carona's solution? Tax hikes and tax increases. Way to go, John Carona... Is he really a Republican? Carona is going to be carrying the water for weak-kneed city officials who don't want to actually vote to hike taxes to fund wasteful spending in the Metroplex. His legislation would give us: Oh, and as an added measure to ensure we don't attract any new jobs, Carona would add a new fee on people moving into the Metroplex. Where is also this money going? To fund trains people don't want to ride that go places only the city bureaucrats want to be. And, of course, to pad the pockets of various lobbyists and big-shots. Maybe Carona and his friends didn't hear about the economic crisis going on? John Carona should be ashamed of himself. Levying new taxes and fees is never a good idea -- but especially not in a bad economy. Even Barack Obama and the liberals running Congress aren't proposing tax hikes. Bookmark/Search this post with: |
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Bill numbers
Hi, Terry:
Could you please provide bill numbers.
Thanks.
Public and Private Roads
I usually agree with you guys, but in the end the roads have to be built somehow. John Carona has been very much against toll roads in the past. I'm glad too as there are new ones springing up all the time in the DFW area.
In addition, Senator Carona is also trying to keep everyone's paws out of the highway fund. Right now about 1/3 is being diverted to non-highway uses.
Senator Carona wants to increment the gas tax for the first time since the 90s. We all know the Federal Reserve is destroying the buying power of the dollar. That increases the dollar costs to build roads, but the tax itself has not been increased. Maybe someone could put jam up the Fed printing press?
Cars are also alot more fuel efficient than they used to be. So the highway fund has been depleted because cars simply don't use as much fuel per mile. However, the wear is the same.
I would much rather direct funds from other non-needed parts of the Texas State Government than hike taxes, but at the very least I think Senator Carona is being realistic.
At least he isn't pushing the cost off to our grandchildren and exploding the national debt like the folks in Washington. Proposing that we pay our way as we go isn't the worst choice. Maybe the answer is toll roads everywhere, but right now I'm not convinced on that one.
JOhn
Corona ?
john corona, is a sneaky bastard....in my opinion, he wiil lead the charge to increase taxes & spending any , & everytime he can, then go brag about how conservative he is ! Do not trust this man with anything....he is a bum who is really a democrat loosly disguised as a republican ! It is time to throw out this type of republician !
john birdwell
roads and rail.
Oh, John..
"Senator Carona wants to increment the gas tax for the first time since the 90s."
Increment? He wants to index the tax. You know why? Because when conservatives accuse him of raising the tax, he can just say: No, I authored the bill to INDEX it, which can theoretically lower the tax cost. Gas trends upward, so this is a tax hike. Call it what it is.
"but at the very least I think Senator Carona is being realistic"
Its realistic to raise taxes during a serious recession?? Are you serious? I guess just raising taxes a little bit is okay, right? Ever consider the cumulative effect of small taxes like what Carona is proposing? Its jokers like him that need to be called out and thrown out. We have enough problems dealing with socialist Dems, do we really need this nonsense in our own party?
"We all know the Federal Reserve is destroying the buying power of the dollar. That increases the dollar costs to build roads, but the tax itself has not been increased."
I wasn't aware of the inflationary conditions that you claim exist.
"Cars are also alot more fuel efficient than they used to be. So the highway fund has been depleted because cars simply don't use as much fuel per mile. "
The highway fund has been mismanaged for years.
Texas' population has been growing, demand for SUVs and trucks took off in the 90's and 2000's, which drink more gas. I think this is a weak justification at best, which ignores other growth factors. I think its fair to assume cars are being driven less now, due to recession, and less road use is naturally occurring for commercial and private purposes. How is it justified to tax more and build more roads when there is falling demand for roads? AND what if there are fewer automobiles being driven, or if gas prices fall again, how then will Sen. Carona increase revenue? More and more vehicles fees of all kinds. And lets not forget, this isn't about roads at all. Its about rail for Carona.
Alternatives?
My #1 choice would be to cut unneeded government programs and divert that money to the highway fund. I was surprised that none of you mentioned that in your rebuttals. All I heard is no tax increases.
Anyway, I was under the impression that the gas tax would be incremented and then indexed to inflation. I had assumed that the measure of inflation was the CPI-U put out by the Federal Reserve. The Austin American Statesman has said that the bill will be indexed to construction costs. That looks pretty subjective to me.
Regarding the Federal Reserve and the continuous deterioration of the buying power of the dollar. The last time the gas tax was hiked was 1991. The tax rate was set to $0.20. That $0.20 has the buying power of $0.13 in 2007 dollars. So the deterioration of the dollar is very real, and very cumulative (1). Even a 2% annual increase in yearly inflation compounds quite a bit over time.
Regarding fuel economy. I did a little research (2) and it looks like fuel economy has only gone up by about 10% since 1991. I was thinking it had gone up much more.
I will agree the highway fund has been mismanaged. Maybe Senator Carona could introduce to reverse pilfer all of the money that was taken out by various non-highway programs and and add it back in with interest. That would be awesome.
I'm just a regular old citizen, but I will contact Senator Carona and tell him that for every tax increase he proposes I would like to see a tax cut equal to or greater in another area. Maybe a cut to sales tax, property taxes, or gross margins tax. For every tax increase our state government grows. One of the reasons Texas has done so well is we keep our state government small. You guys are right, this is not time for a tax increase. Thanks for the discussion.
JOhn
(1) http://www.westegg.com/inflation/
(2) http://www.bts.gov/publications/national_transportation_statistics/html/table_04_23.html
No tax increases without transparency
There is no way citizens should support tax increases or the creation of new fees until every city, county, river authority, school district, university, etc puts all of their expenditures online. Every taxpayer has the right to know how THEIR money is being spent before given the option of creating or raising any additional tax.
Tax Reallocation
I've been thinking. Given the state of the economy that we're in I think the state government should be doing the same thing the rest of us are doing. Make do with the tax rates they have now, and reallocate those tax receipts to the most needed places. Raising taxes in a recession, especially this one is a bad idea and hampers productivity in the private market.
Rather than the knee jerk reflex of raising taxes for new highways, rail, or whatever. I would like to see legislation that instead reprioritizes those tax dollars. So if citizens want more highways, rail, etc... then the state government will have to cut some other program to pay for it. If the regional areas enact a tax hike in the gas then that should trigger a tax cut somewhere else. That way the new tax ideas don't keep springing up like dandelions in the spring.
JOhn
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