NC Government Road Math
Be careful when you ask government to do math. Keep in mind, just about anything government does, they WILL screw it up. Experts claim (that should be a signal that you’re dealing with bureaucrats who have no goal other than to get more control and spend more money):
Several transportation advocates pointed to four factors stressing the transportation system and its funding:
* huge population growth
* tremendous inflation costs that add hundreds of millions of dollars to delayed construction projects
* stagnant revenue
* more people traveling more miles
So there’s a huge population growth — who all have cars. And there’s a giant “impact fee” on every car brought into the state. And most of the new residents will be working, right? If so, they’ll be paying taxes. And more people paying more taxes = stagnant revenue. At least according to “government experts.”
Oh, and there will be “more people traveling more miles.” And there is a state tax that has to be paid on ALL gasoline purchased in the state. So unless these people are running their cars on vegetable oil (for which the state will arrest you) or air, they’re paying MORE in taxes. And yet using the “government expert” math, this means LESS money, somehow. No, I don’t think government bureaucrats could add one and one to get two. Thank you, government public school system.
Joines suggested ending annual transfers of hundreds of millions of dollars from the state’s Highway Trust Fund to the General Fund. The 2007-2008 budget transferred $172 million.
Obviously Mr. Joines doesn’t know how the Democrats in the legislature work. They have transferred over three BILLION dollars over the past 20 years from the gas taxes to their pockets the general fund. They are addicted to that money and will not give it up. Besides, as long as they can claim that they “need” more money for roads, they can justify (at least to themselves) raising taxes even more.
But don’t worry — they’re working on state toll roads — because Democrats in the North Carolina legislature are so bad at managing your money, they just need more of it! And hey, if that’s STILL not enough money, they’ll just take more via county taxes. That way they can claim they didn’t raise taxes, too.
I wish there were some sense of fiscal responsibility in Raleigh. But when one party runs the state government for over 100 years, they literally do whatever they want, no matter what.
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Toll Roads??? That will provide employment for a few trolls and gatekeepers! LOL!!! That’s exactly what ticks me off about driving through West Virginia… paying toll. I feel for the people who live in the small bergs off the toll roads, because they get ripped off coming and going… litterally.
The biggest rip off toll I ever paid (I was in a U-Haul at the time!) was going through New York, it was $42.00 when I got to the end of the toll road! And the kicker, the road wasn’t THAT Nice! I DON’T Love New York!!!!
Toll roads are about one thing: collecting money for the government. They are almost NEVER about building roads, but that’s what the politicians claim. For example, I know of various bridges in New York that were built and tolls were put on them to pay for the bridge. The tolls have collected more than twice the cost of the bridge, but know what? The tolls are still there. When they claim the tolls are to pay for the roads, they’re just outright lying, as usual.