For those of you unfamiliar with what’s going on here in Pennsylvania, here’s a quick precis. Our Dhimmicrat Governor Rendell, who of course depends on the welfare vote in Pittsburgh and Philly, decided he’d divert nearly all of the gasoline tax from repairing roads to propping up the failed public transportation system in Philly. That’s really all you need to know for right now.
Having said that, let me also say that perspective is everything here. Having just moved here from Indiana, I am amazed at the great roads in Pennsylvania. Compared to Indiana’s, that is.
I just got this in my inbox (I would link to it, but I cannot find it anywhere on the web):
PHIA Transportation Newsletter 9/9/2005
Gas Tax Suspension A Bad Idea
The sudden rise in gas prices has led some legislators to propose suspending Pennsylvania’s gas tax.
Suspending the state gas tax will bring minimal savings to drivers while hampering road improvement efforts.
This is a bad idea for many reasons.
First, any suspension would severely hamper road improvement and expansion efforts in the state, which are already lagging. Many highway and bridge projects have been shelved this year after $419 million in federal highway dollars were shifted to save transit systems across the state.
With PennDOT needing $1.5 billion to bring its bridges up to safe standards and another $4.8 billion for pavement preservation, we cannot afford to temporarily suspend the gas tax as we need every dollar we can get to keep the Commonwealth’s residents and economy moving. Any gas tax dollar we don’t collect also hurts the 80-20 match we receive from the federal government for road repairs – another reason the gas tax should not be suspended.
Second, there is no assurance any of the savings would be passed onto motorists. Gas suppliers could, in essence, lower prices by 10 cents and pocket the remaining difference if the gas tax were suspended.
Finally, gas prices have peaked and are slowly starting to decrease. As more refineries come back online and as demand decreases with the end of the summer driving season, prices should come back to a more reasonable level.
Governor Rendell realizes highway improvements would take a big hit if the gas tax were suspended. At a recent news conference in Philadelphia, the governor reminded us that a reduction could cost PennDOT $660 million or one-third of its annual budget.
I would ask you to go back and read that again, just because it is such an amazingly stupid pile of crap, but instead, I’ll resond to it and include the sections as I go.
First, any suspension would severely hamper road improvement and expansion efforts in the state, which are already lagging. Many highway and bridge projects have been shelved this year after $419 million in federal highway dollars were shifted to save transit systems across the state.
With PennDOT needing $1.5 billion to bring its bridges up to safe standards and another $4.8 billion for pavement preservation, we cannot afford to temporarily suspend the gas tax as we need every dollar we can get to keep the Commonwealth’s residents and economy moving. Any gas tax dollar we don’t collect also hurts the 80-20 match we receive from the federal government for road repairs – another reason the gas tax should not be suspended.
Let me see if I’ve got this. Rendell basically embezzled the gas taxes he collected and wasted it on a public transportation system that should have been left to rot on its own, and now they’re claiming that because he did this, lowering the gas tax would be a bad idea? Hello? Knock, knock, anybody home in there?
Oh, but it gets even stupider:
Second, there is no assurance any of the savings would be passed onto motorists. Gas suppliers could, in essence, lower prices by 10 cents and pocket the remaining difference if the gas tax were suspended.
Well no, there is no assurance. No assurance other than competition, that is. If only one gas station lowers its prices because its costs are lowered (that’s what happens when you cut taxes, you know, the cost goes down–I feel I need to explain this to the idiots that wrote this newsletter) people will flock to that gas station. Other gas stations will likewise lower their prices because they need to compete to stay in business. Are these people really this stupid?
Finally, gas prices have peaked and are slowly starting to decrease. As more refineries come back online and as demand decreases with the end of the summer driving season, prices should come back to a more reasonable level.
Governor Rendell realizes highway improvements would take a big hit if the gas tax were suspended. At a recent news conference in Philadelphia, the governor reminded us that a reduction could cost PennDOT $660 million or one-third of its annual budget.
Wait, back up, hold it. These idiots who don’t understand cost vs. revenue (and why would government employees understand either?) have a crystal ball, I suppose, and their crystal ball tells them that gas prices have peaked and are going down–so we might as well continute to get gouged by these ridiculously high gas taxes. Uh-huh. That’s logical.
But then Rendell has the balls to “remind” us that a reduction would cost PennDOT money, after stealing the gas taxes to give to that piece of shit public transportation system so all the welfare riders would vote for him? What planet does he and his lackeys here live on, anyway?
I admit I haven’t been here long, but it’s very clear that Rendell has to go. And he can take the idiots who sent out this newsletter with him.
Hey, Mitch, would you like to be the governor of two states?
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